(Prague) The leaders of the European Union, gathered at a summit on Friday in Prague, sketched out the main lines of a common response to the soaring energy prices caused by the war in Ukraine.
Posted at 9:44 a.m.
Updated at 1:00 p.m.
“Russia has fired an energy missile at the European continent,” said Charles Michel, President of the Council, which represents the 27 member countries.
He considered that the debates in the castle of the Czech capital were “a crucial step” before the next summit of heads of state and government in Brussels on October 20 and 21 “which will be an opportunity to take steps forward “.
The Twenty-Seven “share a common ambition to bring down the prices of energy resources”, he hammered. But they are divided on the means and there is an urgent need to find compromises which will concretely lighten the burden on EU citizens and businesses.
PHOTO PETR DAVID JOSEK, ASSOCIATED PRESS
European Union leaders pose before their meeting in Prague.
“As many meetings as necessary”
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, who holds the rotating presidency of the EU Council, pledged to “convene as many meetings of energy ministers as necessary to find a solution”.
The economy of the Old Continent is totally dependent on its hydrocarbon imports and is suffering like no other from the supply cuts imposed by Russia.
But it is struggling to find a common response, as interests diverge between countries that rely on nuclear power like France, those that rely on coal like Germany, or those that are historically linked to Russian hydrocarbons in central Europe.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stressed that the EU was already “much better prepared to face winter”. Europeans have already taken steps to limit their energy consumption and diversify their supplies.
The share of gas imported from Russia has fallen from 41% before the outbreak of war in Ukraine in February to 7.5% today, she pointed out.
She recalled the main lines of a roadmap sent this week to the Member States and promised “more detailed proposals in the coming weeks”.
There is “broad support” from the EU27 to set up group purchases of gas by next spring in order to strengthen the bargaining power of Europeans, she said.
The EU chief executive reiterated her various avenues for lowering gas bills: negotiating price fluctuation corridors with EU-friendly suppliers, exploring ways to limit gas prices to eliminate spikes in particular to speculation, and to decouple the prices of electricity from those of gas.
Germany pinned
She also insisted on the need to “preserve the single market”, after the outcry caused last week by Berlin’s 200 billion euro plan to protect its economy. Several leaders have criticized Germany as a lone rider, which threatens European cohesion.
The budgetary power of Europe’s leading economy and its ability to finance a solid shield risks benefiting German companies to the detriment of their competitors in other countries.
“On the pretext that a member country is able to borrow more, it should not be able to subsidize its businesses more and make them more competitive than those of its neighbours,” warned the Latvian Prime Minister, Krisjanis Karins.
“Be united, in difficult times we must agree on common measures and not on those which best suit a country”, also launched his Polish counterpart, Mateusz Morawiecki, to the attention of the Germans.
Chancellor Olaf Sholz defended himself by saying that the German support plan was comparable to those of other European countries, in particular France. “What Germany is doing is right, we can do it because we have always ensured the stability of our finances,” he said.
European leaders also reaffirmed their support for Ukraine on Friday.
French President Emmanuel Macron notably announced the creation of a “special fund” so that Ukraine can “purchase directly” from French industrialists “the materials it needs most to support its war effort”.