Brussels - The European Union should put in place a temporary price cap on natural gas until a new price index can be introduced, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the European Parliament on Wednesday.

"Introducing a cap on gas overall is a temporary solution until we will have a new EU price index developed that ensures a better functioning of the market and the Commission has already started to work on this," she said.

Von der Leyen also said she would spell out in a letter to EU leaders meeting in Prague from Thursday that the EU should put in place a joint EU procurement system for energy.

(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop and Bart Meijer)