The outgoing Italian head of government, Mario Draghi, said at his last EU summit for the time being that the member states “urgently” have to decide on a common gas price cap and reform the energy market. A majority of member states are calling for such a price cap.
Scholz again rejected this, but was open to joint gas purchases. The EU must agree on concepts that also work, he said in Brussels. In a government statement in the Bundestag, the Chancellor had previously referred to the danger that producers such as the USA and Norway would “sell their gas elsewhere and we Europeans would end up getting less gas instead of more gas”.
French President Emmanuel Macron warned that Germany was “isolating” in Europe. In addition to Macron, other heads of state and government called on Scholz to give in. Kaja Kallas, Prime Minister of Estonia, said that Europe does not work without compromises. “I hope that Germany will also find this sense of compromise.”
EU Council President Charles Michel spoke of a “moment of truth” for the EU. At the same time, he was convinced that an agreement was possible after months of dispute. Scholz brought up a special summit in November, but this was rejected by the group according to unanimous diplomatic information.
According to several diplomats, the member countries were haggling over the wording of the planned final declaration. A “dynamic price cap” for the gas market or a gas price cap based on the so-called Iberian model was discussed – Spain and Portugal have made gas for electricity production cheaper through state subsidies. Germany, but also the Netherlands and Denmark are skeptical about such market interventions.
Before the start of the summit, Scholz and Macron initially met bilaterally. They agreed that the Chancellor would travel to Paris to see the President next Wednesday. It should be about energy issues as well as the joint plans for a fighter plane, which are being delayed.
Paris and Berlin had previously canceled a meeting with the ministers of the two countries that was originally planned for Wednesday. Both sides admitted a lack of agreement on key points. A new date around the 60th anniversary of the Elysée Treaty, i.e. around January 22nd, is considered possible.
The EU summit was also about further support for Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized in a video link with EU leaders that even more people could flee his country to the west because Russia was turning Ukraine “into a battlefield” with attacks on the energy system.
According to a draft of their final declaration, the heads of state and government wanted to strongly condemn the latest Russian attacks on Ukraine. According to Polish media reports, Poland and the Baltic states are also pushing for a ninth EU sanctions package against Russia.
The second day of the summit on Friday will deal with the EU’s relations with Asia and with preparations for the world climate summit in Egypt in November.
