European leaders discuss energy crisis in Brussels

Rudaw

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The heads of European countries met in Brussels on Thursday to discuss a new package to bring energy prices under control, with French President Emmanuel Macron telling Rudaw that he hopes for positive talks during the two-day summit. 

“Here, we hope that we are able to hold a positive and political talk, with the aim that these attacks [by Russia], which are not acceptable, on the civilians are stopped,” Emmanuel Macron told Rudaw’s Alla Shally during a presser.

A new package of emergency measures was unveiled in the last few days by the European Commission. It is aimed at bringing gas prices under control in Europe. 

“The Commission has come forward with a substantive package that will be discussed today. And it's basically two points that are dominant. The first one is: How are we able to tame the gas prices, mainly the spikes and the manipulation by Russia,” Ursula von der Leyen, President of the Commission, told reporters. 

“Here, two models are on the table. One is at the TTF level, so wholesale level, and the other one is decoupling the gas partially from the electricity prices,” she added, referring to the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) - which is a leading hub for gas trading in Europe. 

Josep Borrell, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, also spoke to reporters. 

“We are going to talk a lot about energy. Russia is manipulating prices and creating troubles in the energy markets around the world. So the leaders will discuss… the measures to be taken by our side. Our diplomacy will continue working with our partners in order to face the consequences of these high prices around the world because everybody is suffering from that,” he said. 

“Secondly, I will inform the leaders about the last decisions taken Foreign Affairs Council on Ukraine… the sanctions against Iran for the use of drones. I have been talking this morning with the Foreign Affairs Minister of Iran to inform [him] about this decision. And it shows the determination of the European Union to do everything we can with respect to everybody that could be involved in supporting Russian aggression,” added Borrell. 

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told reporters that his government has packages to deal with energy issues. 

CORRECTION: Embedded tweets say that the above leaders spoke to reporters on Wednesday while the correct day is Thursday.