While the Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union has announced that an extraordinary meeting of Member States’ energy ministers will be held next week (9 September) to discuss measures aiming to fight surging energy prices, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen provided some clarification with regard to the institution’s intentions in terms of timing.
“We need an emergency instrument which would be triggered very quickly, in weeks perhaps”, the president stressed on Monday, 29 August, during a public discussion with Robert Habeck, the German Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action.
In her opinion, this emergency measure should enable the EU to “set a path so that gas prices don’t determine energy prices”.
As the president announced a little earlier today (see EUROPE 13009/6), the emergency instrument will only be a first step aiming to help Member States facing pressure from energy prices in the short term.
“After that, there will have to be a deep and structural reform of the energy market. I think that will come at the beginning of next year”, explained Mrs von der Leyen, thus corroborating the remarks made by Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson at the end of July (see EUROPE 13001/3).
She added, “We have to [intervene]; we have to redesign the market”. (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)