Brussels, 24 November 2022 (dpa/MIA) - Discontent over a new proposal to limit the wholesale price of gas under strict conditions dominated a meeting of European Union energy ministers on Thursday in Brussels. Ministers agreed in principle on legislation for joint gas purchases and quicker authorization procedures for some renewable energy projects, German State Secretary Sven Giegold said after the meeting. "We are not opening the champagne yet, but put the bottle in the fridge. It will wait for us there," said the Czech minister in charge of energy, Jozef Sikela, who chaired the talks. The formal decision however was postponed to the next meeting, with the hope that by then EU countries could also agree on how to limit the price of gas. After repeated calls for a legislative proposal for a gas price cap from some member states, the European Commission presented earlier this week a proposal for capping the price of gas traded at the Dutch reference hub Title Transfer Facility (TTF). The proposal however was met with criticism from many member countries. "The gas price cap, which is in the document currently, it doesn't satisfy any single country. It's a kind of joke for us after so many months of discussions," said Polish Climate and Environment Minister Anna Moskwa arriving at the meeting. The cap would take effect automatically on the month-ahead price of gas if the price exceeds €275 ($283.9) per megawatt hour for two weeks and the spread to global liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices is €58 or higher - conditions that make it uncertain if the measure would ever be applied. "That definitely is not what we have asked for as part of the block of 15 countries that wanted a cap on the price of gas," said Malta's Energy Minister Miriam Dalli on Thursday morning. "The proposal that is on the table, it's definitely not fit for purpose," she added. TTF price peaks last August at close to €350 per megawatt hour would not have been sufficient to trigger the cap as prices fell below the €275 threshold within less than two weeks, the commission said. Also ministers from France, Belgium and Italy were among those unsatisfied with the commission's proposal. Estonia signalled support for the commission proposal saying it was "okay pretty much." Germany is one of the EU countries sceptical about a gas price cap. "There is still a lot of work to be done," Giegold added, a notion echoed by several ministers after the meeting. Crisis talks of EU energy ministers are now expected to resume in Brussels on December 13.