Europe must take action on energy costs immediately before winter sets in, the Polish prime minister said on Thursday, as he called on European leaders to implement changes to the carbon emissions system and a maximum gas price.

"A hard winter is coming for all European countries and for Poles as well, so we need to act now, immediately," Mateusz Morawiecki told a news conference in Prague following the European Political Community summit. (Reporting by Alan Charlish and Bart Meijer Editing by Chris Reese)