Croatian Economy Minister Davor Filipovic on Friday participated in an extraordinary Energy Council meeting in Brussels, where EU energy ministers reached a political agreement on a proposal for a Council Regulation on an emergency intervention to address high energy prices.

According to the Ministry, the proposal includes measures to reduce electricity demand during peak price hours in order to reduce electricity prices for consumers, measures to recover excess revenues from inframarginal electricity generators, and a solidarity contribution from the excess revenues of the fossil fuel sector, which will be used to mitigate the impact of high prices on end-users and additionally protect electricity buyers.

Croatia supported the regulation and is prepared to intensively work with its European colleagues on ensuring clean, safe and accessible energy for all European Union citizens, Minister Filipovic said at the meeting.

He also said that Croatia considered that the measure to reduce consumption should be on a voluntary basis, but also that the possibility of regulating prices and subsidies should be expanded to all participants in the market, that is, to all consumers, including all companies, given the fact that the high prices have an impact on all participants in the market.

EU ministers exchanged views on further options for alleviating high gas prices.

With regard to this, Filipovic said that Croatia considered that a price cap for all wholesale transactions related to natural gas was the only measure that would help every member state, as well as the European Union, the press release said.

Croatia also supports intensifying joint activities to reduce gas consumption and to solve the current crises caused by high prices, such as a joint procurement of gas at the EU level, but also shifting away from gas as an energy source to renewables and more efficient energy solutions.

At the end of the meeting, Denmark informed EU ministers about the recent leaks in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines near the island of Bornholm, the Ministry said in the press release.