The leaders of the European Union have appealed this Thursday to the unity of the Twenty-seven to agree on energy solutions in the face of the rise in market prices in the face of the reluctance of some European partners such as Germany and the Netherlands, which are closed to immediate measures to put a ceiling on the price of gas purchases
Faced with the prospect of a long and complex European summit due to the lack of consensus between partners, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, has called for maintaining the unity of European action and has appealed directly to Germany so that the proposals on energy that now have “broad consensus” can find “unanimity”.
“We have a very broad unity, I am going to work with Foreign Minister Olaf Scholz. I think it is not good for Germany or for the EU to isolate itself,” the French president said in statements before the summit.
Meanwhile, the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, one of the great reluctance to apply measures such as a maximum gas price, has defended “finding a way” to support all the Member States to lower prices in the market, while at the same time alerted that the instruments to be used must be “discussed in depth”.
“They have to work, nobody wants to run out of gas. The debate is how we can lower prices and at the same time have enough supplies in Europe,” said the German leader.
“Exceptional situations, exceptional responses”, defended the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, insisting that “an agreement is possible” in energy matters to deal with a market that “does not function normally” and threatens economic prosperity of Europe.
For his part, the President of the Government, Pedro Sanchez, defended Spain’s role in advancing in responses to the energy crisis after achieving the Iberian price control mechanism at the March summit. “We have legitimacy to say that we are late, but it is never late if happiness is good. Happiness is protecting our economy against blackmail”, he stated.
Faced with the possibility that the meeting of heads of state and government will be extended due to the lack of unanimity on energy matters, Sanchez ironically stated that he would be “delighted to have breakfast” with the Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte.
Leaders in favor of approving measures at the European level to intervene in the market and lower energy prices have paraded through Brussels. Case of the Prime Minister of Latvia, Krisjanis Karins, who has claimed that despite “there are still many questions to be resolved”, European solutions must be faced. “The next level is to see what we do as a Union. The only way out is to work together”, he stressed.
His Lithuanian colleague, Gitanas Nauseda, has been one of the clearest leaders in his support for the gas price cap and, despite opposition from Germany and the Netherlands, has not ruled out reaching an agreement on this measure during the summit. “I hope that colleagues change their mentality a bit and we have the possibility of commitment. Sometimes these commitments are achieved at the last minute,” he stressed.
“The discussion is going to be very intense and a long night,” Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas has predicted, urging all European partners to arrive with a “willingness to compromise” to agree on solutions to the situation in the markets.
