EU leaders pledge "urgent" measures to cap rising energy prices

By Trend

The heads of state and government of the European Union have promised this Friday "urgent" measures to intervene in the energy market by backing proposals from Brussels such as the obligatory joint acquisition of at least 15 percent of reserves and the flexible limit for the price of gas purchases while charging the Community Executive with a "concrete" proposal to generalize the "Iberian exception" to the rest of the European Union, Trend reports citing News360.

"Unity and solidarity prevail. Agreement to work on measures to contain energy prices for households and businesses," wrote the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, at the end of the first day of the summit after eleven hours of meetings with the Twenty-Seven, focused on the need to interfere in the market and put a ceiling on gas prices.

In the absence of details of what was agreed by the leaders, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda reported that the leaders have instructed the European Commission and energy ministers to prepare "urgent decisions" on gas price caps, joint purchases and a reference price. "Our unity is crucial," he reiterated.

Spain appreciates that a consensus has been reached on a text on energy but believes that it does not contain sufficient ambition, according to government sources.

"The Commission has had the support in all the proposals it has made and we have even asked it to go further, so in two or three weeks the Commission will have to present them concretely," said the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, who is confident that "at the end of October, beginning of November" the first measures will be in place.

After the consensus on the general lines of the necessary measures, the turn will pass next Tuesday to the EU energy ministers who will discuss the technical issues to try to concretize the development of the proposals.