Brussels - Infrastructure Minister Bojan Kumer has described the proposals set out by the European Commission to curb soaring electricity prices as welcome but too soft as he arrived for a session of energy ministers in Brussels on Friday. He called for imposing safeguards fast to stop speculative futures market trading.

"We welcome many of the measures, but we believe they are too soft, not enough. Above all, we need to act fast and at once, which would give us time to prepare a structural reform of the market, because the foundations have changed and the same trading system on different foundations is no longer possible," the minister told the STA.

The measures presented by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday are in his view too soft in particular on how quickly to intervene with safeguards in long-term electricity trading or in futures contracts. Such action would make it possible to stop speculators.

The volatility in the electricity market is causing liquidity problems for many companies. Unofficial sources say Slovenia is seeking more clarity and predictability when it comes to the use of automatic safeguard systems to limit price volatility.

Kumer believes energy ministers could reach consensus over such safeguards at the meeting today.

In addition to aid to companies to cope with liquidity problems, the European Commission also proposed mandatory reductions in electricity consumption as one of the possible measures to curb electricity prices.

Slovenia will advocate a two-phase reduction in consumption, like in the case of gas, that is first voluntary reduction and then mandatory.

"We believe we can do a lot on a voluntary basis. Slovenia is good example when it comes to reducing gas consumption, having almost reached the 15% voluntary reduction target in the first month, and we want to do the same for electricity," he said.

"If this is not enough, we would like to see sufficiently clear legislative or sub-legislative basis so we can also do this with mandatory reductions."

Commenting on the proposal of a price cap on Russian gas, Kumer said such as cap was not enough. He called for a price cap on all imported gas.