The European Union agrees to set the gas-price cap at €180.

European nations have reached a deal to cap natural gas prices at €180, ending months of political wrangling over whether to intervene in an energy crisis that has risked pushing the region into a recession. According to Bloomberg, the gas market correction mechanism is a temporary measure designed to prevent extreme price swings and will apply for one year starting on February 15. It’s significantly lower than an earlier proposal from the European Commission, which wouldn’t have prevented the spikes that the region saw earlier this year as Russia curbed gas supplies in the wake of its war in Ukraine. The new cap will only take effect if the price difference with global liquefied natural gas prices exceeds €35 per megawatt-hour. Prices must stay above both ceilings for three days to trigger the mechanism.