The 27 Heads of State and Government of the European Union are meeting this Thursday and Friday at an informal summit in Versailles in order to discuss, in particular, a “new economic model based on independence and progress” in the words of Emmanuel Macron, who spoke about the war in Ukraine and its consequences. These are the first exchanges on the possibility of a European resilience and investment plan to counter the consequences of the Russian offensive in Ukraine, said the Elysée.
While Washington and London have decided to stop imports of Russian hydrocarbons, the EU, which is much more exposed, is not ready to follow them but is getting organized to cut gas purchases from Russia by two-thirds this year. To reduce this dependence without jeopardizing the economy of the most exposed countries, the European Commission proposed Tuesday to the Twenty-Seven to diversify their supplies, to inflate their reserves and to reduce their energy consumption.
The roadmap will be discussed Thursday and Friday by the Heads of State and Government meeting in Versailles. They should commit to “to get out of (their) dependence on imports of Russian gas, oil and coal”, but without a timetable, according to draft conclusions consulted by AFP. According to the EU executive, the EU could completely do without Russian gas “well before 2030”.
Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova belong to the “European family”
The European Union must send to Ukraine “a political signal on its belonging to the European family”, as well as to Georgia and Moldova, according to the position of the Elysée, but cannot launch an accelerated accession procedure. It is necessary for these three countries “inventing new forms of rapprochement with the EU” with “a strengthening of cooperation in the economic, educational and research fields as well as in political cooperation”. Their heads of state could, for example, “be associated with European Council meetings more regularly”. The EU has already sent them a first signal by launching on Monday the procedure for reviewing membership applications that these three countries filed just after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, when it had taken two years to respond to that of Romania.
Between 1,500 and 2,000 police forces will be mobilized to secure this European summit in Versailles, learned France Bleu Paris from the prefecture of Yvelines.