one of your neighbors definitely come down. it's one thing to condemn the war, but it's another thing, you know, some of your critics have argued that hungry is actually helping to fund person and help them pay for the war by fill purchasing russian oil and gas. what, what do you take to that? look if you're in our south, then we are not able to have ukraine. and enjoying from the contracts with russia on energy supply would mean destroying the country. and you can catch the fall interview with hungry, foreign minister on talk to al jazeera. that interview is right here on saturday at 430 g m t. ah, you're watching l g here, and these are the top stories. this our new government data shows china's coven 19

better. the economy slumped in november before or thirties eas, severe pandemic restrictions, which had kimber has more from hong kong. the reports coming out of healthcare facilities on the mainland. other, they're already starting to look like they're going to become overwhelmed in the next few weeks because of the number of people who are now contracting. cobit 19 it just as a direct result of these rules being relaxed and the concern from people in society spoken to and people in business. the spoken to over the last 40 hours is that what will likely happen over the next few weeks. people will become more and more reluctant to go out, want more reluctant to spend money, and more and more reluctant to go to work. felton's of nurses in the ukiah going on strike, demanding pay rises to match inflation. this is the latest industrial action after rail and postal workers also walked off the job this week. for is, the government has declared a 30 day state of emergency in response to protest by supporters of acid president

pedro casteel. security forces will have the power to stop demonstrations and search homes without warrants protest as a calling for castillo release. he was impeached and jailed after trying to dissolve congress last week. the stranger is putting a price cap on gas and kohls that tries to curb soaring prices. parliament has approved a plan to set a price limit on energy supplies. hundreds of people in his sample have rallied in support of the cities mere after a court sentenced a crew molar to prison for insulting public officials. if the appeals court upholds the verdict, the conviction would prevent him from holding public office for the duration of the sentence. and france had booked their place in the world cup final against argentina. the defending champions beat morocco to nil ending a dream run for the atlas lance, who became the 1st african arab team to make the final form. does the headline to remind you, can keep up to date with all the news on

a web. a weekly look at the world's top busy stories from global markets to economies and small businesses to understand how it affects our daily lives. in counting the cost on al jazeera e energy medicines beat again and fail again to strike a deal to cap the price of natural gas prices of sort since washer invaded ukraine, the blog post to hurt moscow. but can the deep divisions within the e u be overcome? this is inside story. ah hello, welcome to the program. i'm adrian finnegan, european union energy ministers, held their 5th emergency meeting on tuesday to try to set

a price cap for natural gas. but once again, they failed. then the states 1st promised a sealing on prices in october, but a divided on what it should be. they want to punish russia by paying less for its gas, while also protecting consumers from prices that have sort since the ukraine war began. the split is between those wanting tough measures. and those fearing that to lower cap might affect supplies. that could happen, it produces sell to other markets instead of the e. u with higher rates on offer elsewhere. energy ministers want to avoid a sharp increase in the gas price. like in august, they're going to try to reach a compromise at another round of talks. next week will be only one open issue for the discussion on monday. ah, and this is the prize level triggering cur. the mechanism. we have to make sure that the situation from this all goes to will not be repeated. i think we

are almost there. but now we need to get together and show that unity is not then empty works, but the core value of the will, which we all subs subscribe to. some that is worried about the impact and sanctions on the price capital net own people. hungary, for example, says it's national interests come 1st. it through santa, here in brussels. the debate continues to be dominated by sanctions rather than piece building. and then is a big problem, a very big problem. even though thanks and have clearly been shown to have failed sanctions or failed policy and sanctions have thus far lead european decision making and european reactions the war into a dealing to. i would like to reiterate that we consider the sanctions policy as a whole to be a misguided policy. when discussing sanctions, the most important aspect for us is that hung gary and national interest,

a not harmed and hungry energy supply isn't jeopardize. so far, there's been agreement on some points, check, industry and trade to mr. yourself. sir keller says that they've agreed to keep what's known as over the counter contract out of the cap. there's a contract directly negotiated between countries and suppliers outside official gas exchanges. the exemption would allow for more sources of supply. they've also agreed to review the measure at the end of february to see how effective it's been . and the deal will include ways to swiftly remove the cap in case it has negative knock on effects. ah. so let's bring in our guests. for today's discussion from bern, were joined by cornelia my up, the ceo of my a resources and energy policy advisory from moscow. chris grief, up the ceo at macro advisory, a strategic consultancy focused on eurasia,

and from warsaw void check. she belsky, the editor in chief of the political magazine. visegrad, welcome to you or cornelia. let's start with you. what exactly is a price cap on gas designed to do hot russia or protect e u consumers or both? and will it work? i think it's, it's designed to do both, but i'm not sure it's effective on either am. it's designed to make sure the price is don't go too high as we have seen. you know, in summer prices went so high that people really feared for, for how they could supply. they could supply their, their, their population adequately. and it's also supposed to put a cap on, on, on the russian, on that mot. russia can earn, but you have to understand that when you look at gas, before the ukraine war, about 40 percent off, then all gas coming to europe came from them came from russia in germany. it was 55

percent. since then. it's really gone down to about a 17 pest and, and people are putting on off shore liquids em offshore. weave gas, if occasion terminals, all sorts of things to make sure they can get more l n t, admittedly more expensive. but europe is not only slowly and steadily very quickly, winning itself off its total dependency on russian gas. right. so really, if i, as you say that the dependence upon russian gas has fallen, why are certain e u, member states, why do they feel it's are important to introduce this price captain. why are they trying to push it through? well, they're pushing it through because some countries really very much still depend on russian gas. if you look at an austria, if you look at, you know, slovakia and those bordering states, they're still really need and some states in the western balkans,

they still need russian gas. so they want to avoid that too much. money goes to russia and, and into the war efforts. but, but it's a matter, you know, this is a matter over the next 1218 months looking forward. it's really a matter of where will the gas for europe come from. but it will be a lot more expensive l n g is more expensive than russian pipeline gas, which comes from the weston and the west and siberian gas fields on an infrastructure that's basically paid off. so you're having new infrastructure, more expensive gas, so it's, so prices are gonna go up in europe, no matter what chris reefer in moscow, how it russia react, that if a cap on the price of russian gas was implemented well, it wouldn't hurt russia at all. can you know, kind of get a good around the cap? well, 1st of all, to say that stare is much less a commentary and certainly much less debate about the proposed gas price

a kept. and there is, or has been about the oil price cap. and certainly we, we've seen a very fierce political reaction to the proposed oil price cap. i even are now expecting that president putin will sign legislation making is illegal for any rest producer to sell on under the terms of the hard press cap. there has not been are hardly any commentary about the gas price cap, but $1.00 of the reasons is the course the price level is begin to gauge the 275 year as a t t f. the benchmark price, ah, the price of gas has only ever been above that rapes for only a few days in august. the current price is almost half that level. it's about a $130.00. and so that's one reason why there's much less excitement about this in

russia big because the levels are being set so high. and also i think the other reason is because of course, russia does have options when it comes to transferring oil. and we see of see a great effort now to secure tankers and other roads to shift automation. you can't do the gas of course, because it's pipeline routed. so i think for now to position in moscow is they're simply waiting to see what is agreed. what would be the impact and i then we'll only then will we get a reaction from us, but it's, it's sort of itself, it's not going to have much time because that is our resource. i'm sorry, down in let me clarify what you were saying that the current price of gases is well below where this, this camp is, is, is, is thought it's going to be implemented. so it's not gonna make much difference. no, it's not the current price. it's $130.00 yours is the price can propose was $275.00 . so it's, it's a long, long way office. i am assuming that's the reason why europe once to agree this is

because they are looking forward to next year. really a probably, europe is not going to have much of an energy problem. this winter is already enough, gas has been secured as the previous speaker, sad has been very big in ports of l. n, g. and so reserves are high and it shouldn't be a problem this winter, but it's, it's already looking like in which were dangerous situation for europe coming in to to next winter may not be able to get the same energy supplies next summer as they, as a got this summer because china did not buy as much energy as a contract and therefore allowed that energy to go to europe. if the time these economy recovers as it now appears to be, then china will take that energy and europe on get it. so the position therefore is we could be looking at a much higher a gas price and greater volatility in the gas market this time next year. and i think the mechanism therefore, is aimed at that rather than anything more immediate for check. what's poland

position on this? it's one of the countries that's pushing hard for this cap, isn't it? yes, bohlin is one of the country that pushes hard for the camp. but as also one of the countries that has been for a long time pushing for european energy independence or interdependence by proposing and pushing for the energy packages that would build up european energy market as a whole. and not disconnect and divided market of nation states that has been abused by the other players like russia for their own benefit and the weakening, weakening the block. currently the, the gas price cap is being pushed down as much as possible. countries like poland and i believe the 20 as well. and should there be a big disagreement about on that on the prize? i don't think so. of course there is, there is, there is something behind closed doors that we do. we don't know yet what it's coming to be, but it's part importantly. we have to remember, it is part of

a broader effort called re power you. it's the commission effort to make europe as a block more independent from weaponized saying, gas prices, gas deliveries, energy delivers to europe by specifically russia of any other actors in the future . and it's a long term strategy. so just like my previous speaker said, it's about building a resilience. busy for the next year and the future year in terms of acting together as a blog and not this united nation states markets, but just don't have any sympathy for landlocked countries like hungry and austria, who course don't have ports to take l n g and, and don't want to cap on on russian gas. that's the whole point of building interconnectivity. poland has been at the forefront of proposing inter connectors and buildings. in fact, since 2008, 9 the gas rises when. ready rushes,

turning off their, their delivery of gas to europe. specifically, central europe has been hit land along with other countries of central east in europe and germany and many other countries. i've been starting to build by with european support, so called interconnect doors to make the gas markets truly european and not landlocked to nation states. so austria and check lock and angry. they're being offered and they're being, they're having these interconnect or is built to make the, the energy market and the gas market, specifically fully accessible to all europeans and to be more resilience against such kind of blockades, by, by ro, doctors clearly let's, let's continue with this idea of, of the interconnected world, the e. u. energy independence, co, interdependence, is that it's not wishful thinking. do you think there will never be independence,

but into connect that with europe started to build into connect as actually way before 2008. they started when they rehabilitated when actually u. s. money rehabilitate that. the gas bra, ma'am. pipelines they were interconnect the spilled from their broker in them in the, in, in holland you know, with, with the noise noise, c, m, british gas. so this is been a trend and it's really important because we get gas from algeria. you know, we get gas from, from the mediterranean. then we get all the l m g of in spain and the mediterranean in holland, in england, in them, in and now in germany. so yes, this interconnectivity is really important. so gas becomes more fun durable. the problem with gas is oil. if you find oil and oil, we'll find the market as them our previous speaker, mr. weaver said, you know, there's been now a big shadow fleet bought the specially by the russians to ship um,

oil to places where, who do not adhere to the oil price cap. that's not possible with with gas unless it's l. n g with pipeline gas. so d's in the connect us, oh, really the key to make and to make gas fun, trouble and yest, of europe has been working on this actually since about 1998 from various places and them and, and it needs to, it needs to speed that up chris, their m. oscar, what, what impact a sanctions against russia having on ordinary people? i mean, you talked about the fact that people are formal work dropped off about her approach . couple oil or they are on gas is, is any of this having any impact on daily lives there in russia hours, but these issues are not just, is it a night mode or a price and, and it gets into feeling the sanctions in very much her government level or as economist level, the ordinary people, you know, going about the daily lives. people are course

a consumer are aware and are affected by say, the travel plans like to suit nurses and along across the border and supposed to countries or poland, et cetera. ah, price increases, we've seen this year because of trade disruptions, and there is a general concerned about what the economy impacts next year. people are generally more aware that rush is now entering a phase or you know where the accumulation of sanctions is going to start having a bigger impact on economy and jobs and their for their, their lives. so this is there's a general concern there for about the accumulation of the back the sanctions people are not talking about oil price, cap or gas priced app or any those specific issues that city actually government level and as a say all pick up and discussions been about the oil price, not the gas cap, and you know, and again, you have to look, look at the 2 things wanted horses, there's been a big disruption on gas volumes of the north stream. one was suspended and,

and then i, it's not been taken out of action. i saw volumes of gas going into europe to the, the juice for pipeline and chew the turkish to a pipeline are much less than. and then usually that's a much bigger factor in terms of economic packed affected russian volumes have been substantially reduced. and i, you know, and price as i say, this year we seen a big jump in price. but russia is being used to a very low price look much less than a $100.00 for, for every year up to this year. so i really don't think therefore even if there is a gas price cap put in place at anything above a $100.00 t t f. i don't think the rest of the going to react with an anything like the same way as they reacted to the one for us cap. i think they live with it. all right, let's talk about the that the ears apparent inability to, to come to any sort of deal to fight unity on this vortex. at the beginning of the program, we pointed out that the check energy minister said that is fellow ministers could

say, say reputation risk, if they don't agree on this cap to stop future price spikes. now if 90 percent of the deal is done, what's the problem of what is preventing it getting over the line time and time again? well, we can only assume as we have no credible accounts of money and i need report that . ready to testify what, what is happening and behind the closed door. but there are always countries in here that use cards to negotiate their individual interest on potentially even disconnected from this particular energy policy. and countries like that, for instance, hungry have been oftentimes using the need to agree on certain common foreign policy agenda as as a token and negotiating some something completely different along with. ready other countries regarding rule of law or regarding some other types of funding that they

are seeking. so i would not. busy i would not be surprised that again, country like this or that the one that i mentioned or another may be finding it hard to agree at 1st because it's seeking aside deal it's, there is a parable negotiation coming going on with, with, with respect to the individual interests of a given country, but that's purely speculative. that's however, the logic usually decisions are being reached that these deals are being done and seen that in the support are hungry for the 18000000000. supports a 1000000 euro support package for ukraine only this week, week which is which has been opposed by hunger previously and angry. agree to that in exchange and dire exchange for making us a few steps back by the european commission in terms of cutting funds for rule of law conditionality, amelia is any of this going to make any difference a tool for consumers? people like you and i, when we pay our gas or electricity bills,

this is all academic at the moment, but could across comp, on gas ultimately drive prices high you said, do you think it would, for we still be paying more for, i'm guessing the electricity regardless we, we will be paying more for all a guess and for electricity, because even if we have a guys, a gas price cap, and even if the gas prices, as mister weaver pointed out, you know, very rarely was the gas price above the price of the that the price cap, but when you look at the getting redirecting trade flows is always a very expensive found the taking whether that's now oil or whether that's gas and especially with gas and l. n. g's a lot, dear, are a lot more expensive. so we, as we're winning ourselves off russian gas and use more l n g at more gas from other sources, which will be more expensive. yeah, obviously we will have to, to,

to, to deal with that. and it then depends on how our utility spy, the gas when they buy it, how they buy, and wait. when we look at it now, europe was extremely lucky that china had to siro covet policy, anti economy didn't really boom. so a lot of cargoes, as mr. weaver said, we're die, we directed to europe where they could get better prices. but once china picks up and then this is east asian, i'm you know, place, which is a china korea, japan which are the largest and consumers of l. n. she. once that consumption picks up, you know, you will need europe will need to pay a lot to, to entice cargoes to come here. and what we have in store though is u. s l n g. but that's perm, that is still in the permitting process and we're still about 3 to 5 years off from

that hitting the market. so, you know, the gas and oil, not light switches, these are, these are these, these, these some info does. infrastructure takes time to create and it takes time to we direct that said the trade flows. so yes, in short, it will get more expensive for the european consumer, christine, to do agree with, we're quarterly, we're saying have not a lot about that. the european consumer about where russia will sell its gas at a counselor to europe. ah, yes, and i think look, that this is the difference. obviously. what discussions on the gas cap from oil because the oil cap is very specific to russia, but the gas cap proposal is, will effect on gas purchased by europe. and i think it is right to focus on energy . and the headlines were little strictly focus on, on piped gas, because that's coming from russia you're for, it's targeting russia. so you get to, to get headlines. but the much more serious issue is, what will be the price cap analogy? will there be a price gap analogy?

because that is a more portable, movable products if you're cast the price and demand, you know, from asia and elsewhere, spikes, those tankers will simply turn around and go elsewhere. so i think europe will have to be extremely careful on what will be the price cap mechanism and the review mechanism for ellen. gee, rather than fur for pipe gas because we know the future as we meet hers ist and to try and, and acquire more. and more elegy, because it can be sorts of different places reduce pipe gas, particularly from, from, from russia. so, so the question of price cap analogy, i think, is much more critical than the price cap on the oil or the gas coming in from, from russia. because yeah, if we get a strong recovery the asian markets, they will pay a lot more for the gas, and europe could end up with gas shortages in addition to higher prices, if they don't get, if they get this pricing mechanism route for check is,

is that much appetite in the you to kept the price of energy? well i, i don't know about the particular issue here, whether there is much appetite in europe, but there is much appetite in europe for broad energy package reforming and then the re power you program. they include the gas, the gas caps. it's also about introducing essentially the framework of a common european market and innovation in terms of getting more green or alternative energy is more effective and energy sources and lowering the consumption levels. so we need to look at it from a holistic perspective of what the you, meaning the commission and the countries want to achieve here. and there was a general agreement into the, in the direction it is going. there is, of course,

there are, there are some concerns that my, my co speakers have already mentioned and they are supported by european national european central bank that also is worried about not making the right call on the price cob in terms of the level of the price gas that may create shortages and this concern is being on the other hand, waited by the media. the fact of introducing a price cap, which is expected by countries like century center p and one poland, to have a direct and immediate effect on the income levels of russia through which russia funds, the war effort in ukraine. the i'm afraid we're going to have to leave it. we are out of time. thank you to you all cornelia, my chris, we're up and boycheck. should bill skate as always, thank you for watching. don't forget, you can see the program again at any time by going to the website at al jazeera dot com for further discussion. you can join us at our facebook page at facebook dot com, forward slash ha, inside story ad. as always,

you can join the conversation on twitter handle at ha, inside story for me, adrian finnegan, for the whole team here in the hub. we'll see you again. i forgot. ah . this festival of dawn. i'm music is inspired by carry heritage and culture. because tell me the dance of the trumpeting through this ball faith in order to draw the view is i to the interlocking discipline unique architecture of the desert rose curio. because it's also being followed by the fee for world call. the beat was made in a small events room. you know, so coming here we had to adapt and try to feel the energy and the story of the monuments and to connect to make one

ah. a whole after the introduction of

a controversial electron tennesseans, a set to vote in an election that many 5th may signal the end of democracy. like the head to put this north african nation to noisiest parliamentary election on al jazeera o. an unprecedented strike across the u. k, up to 100000, nist is walk off the job in a fight for beta pain conditions. ah, on told mccraney this is al jazeera live from doha, also coming up, new figures showed the world's 2nd largest economy is faltering withholdings. china could be in for a bumpy ride as it lifts cove at 19.