The European Union must take measures to prevent future overpricing of energy, Belgian Energy Minister Tinne Van der Straeten urged ahead of her colleagues' contentious talks on dealing with price hikes.

"There's another winter coming and the preparation is being done now," Tinne Van der Straeten told Bloomberg. "It will be difficult if we are not taking things into our hands," she added.

The bloc's energy ministers are meeting Tuesday to discuss, among other things, a cap on gas prices, a widely discussed issue that could be the subject of a summit of EU leaders later this week. The agreement would also unlock other emergency rules on cooperative purchasing and faster renewable energy permits.

EU member states are rushing to strike a deal on the price ceiling with country ambassadors to break the stalemate over the development of the measure. While Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark are calling for a cautious approach so as not to jeopardize security of supply, countries including Belgium, Greece, Italy and Poland want a more aggressive mechanism.

“We are not there yet, there is no consensus at this moment,” Van der Straeten said, adding the needle may still move before and even after the energy ministers’ meeting. But “we have proven that we can take policy decision in record time,” she added.

Under pressure from most member states, the commission has proposed capping gas prices to curb a spike in energy prices caused by cuts in supplies from Russia, previously Europe's biggest supplier.

Failure to reach an agreement on Tuesday would mean that the heads of government would have to discuss the cap at a summit on Dec. 15 before another meeting of energy ministers four days later, if no solution is reached.