ATHENS  – He’s gotten nowhere with the idea yet but Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is continuing to beat the drum for the European Union to put a cap on natural gas prices as a way to deal with a Russian monopoly.

He told the Bloomberg financial news service that President Vladimir Putin, facing sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine – which exempted Russian fuels that provide the bloc up to 45 percent of its needs – has “weaponized energy.”

While a limit on the prices has some inherent risks he said that that EU must

“take back control of its gas market and cannot afford to let Russia use its market institutions against it,” warning it will get worse as winter looms.

Putin has also hinted he may slow the flow or pull the plug in retaliation although the sanctions have hurt his country’s economy so much he needs the more than 1 billion euros ($980 million) a day that supplying the EU brings.

He said 15 of the EU’s 27 member states have agreed but there are hard-line supporters of Russia, led by Hungary’s authoritarian government which has snubbed its nose at the rule of law and opposed sanctions.

“Russia is reneging on contracts and deliberately restricting supply. When one player can move prices, there is no sense in “letting markets function,” said Mitsotakis of the dilemma.

“Governments are supposed to structure and police markets. Confronted with clear market manipulation, government intervention is not just justified but required,” he added of the near-crisis.

“Liquidity has dried up and volatility has spiked, creating huge opportunities for suppliers and speculators to profit from sharp movements in price. Major energy companies are coming under duress, seeking government help. No household, company or government can plan around or manage a market where prices move up or down randomly,” he said.

He said that in the first three months of 2022 that the EU paid an additional 62 billion euros ($60.53 billion) to import gas over the first quarter of 2021, his government putting up 9 billion euros ($8.79 billion) in state aid to households unable to afford doubled electricity bills related to gas costs.

Greece is scrambling to find alternatives, including returning to coal-fired plants that were being phased out but has neglected for decades to take advantage of solar power and other sustainable sources.

He noted that in July he proposed a pan-European scheme to compensate large energy users for reducing their consumption, bringing the market into balance without resorting to extreme prices.

“The cap should be high enough to act as a circuit breaker but allow market activity at reasonable levels to continue,” and said he had a number in mind but couldn’t reveal it because it was confidential for doing business negotiations.