With energy prices soaring, EU leaders will set about finding solutions at end of October

At their informal dinner in Brdo on Tuesday 5 October, several Heads of State or Government addressed the subject of energy prices as gas prices have risen sharply in recent days. This issue was discussed by EU Environment Ministers in Luxembourg on 6 October and by MEPs in Strasbourg in plenary on the same day (see other news). 

The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, had warned that the European Council of 21 and 22 October would be the occasion to discuss the subject in depth, and not the meeting in Brdo. 

However, the Spanish and Czech prime ministers spoke briefly at the dinner on the subject, according to an EU diplomat.

Together with France, Romania and Greece, they are initiating a series of proposals to tackle the energy price problem in a coordinated manner. They raised the idea of a common gas reserve. 

There are, however, differences of opinion on the subject within the Member States. The Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, called for a “bold response from the European Commission” to a crisis that is “unprecedented and requires exceptional measures”.

But his Dutch counterpart, Mark Rutte, expressed doubts about the common approach. “The question is: should the market be fundamentally changed in response to high energy prices, or is this a matter for the Member States?”, he asked.

French President Emmanuel Macron said that the EU must first and foremost reduce its dependence in this area. In this sense, nuclear and renewable energy are the key, he said.

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, recalled that the European Commission will publish a communication on energy on 13 October. This will include the structure of energy prices, she said.

But for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the European Commission is the heart of the problem. “The European Commission is responsible for the price increase. The problem is the Green Deal and indirect taxation”, he told journalists ahead of the EU-Balkans summit. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal with Camille-Cerise Gessant)