The global energy crisis that resulted from the Russian-Ukrainian crisis caused a state of deep division among European leaders, after they failed during their meeting yesterday in the Czech capital, “Prague” to find a way to confront this crisis, which caused successive protests and crises in European cities.
During the meeting, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky demanded the imposition of more sanctions on the Russian energy sector and granting his country more weapons at a time when the bloc is looking to maintain its support for Ukraine and become tougher towards the Kremlin. To preserve everything we value so much, we must now invest in our defense, security and cooperation as much as possible.”
European leaders discussed ways to better protect critical infrastructure in the wake of the leaks from the Russian-European Nord Stream gas pipelines, which were “sabotaged”, but sharp disagreements over how to tackle the energy crisis were the main focus of attention, as member states debated how best to do so. to try to lower prices.
Europe is facing an energy crisis with the cost of electricity generation rising dramatically due to the huge increase in gas prices as a result of the interruption of Russian gas supplies, and European Council President Charles Michel said that “Russia launched an energy missile on the European continent and the world.”
Governments across the bloc are rushing to cut consumer bills, but they rely on different energy sources and are divided over solutions, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has proposed a “road map” that includes measures to help ease the burden – including possible measures to cap gas prices, but no There is consensus on the effectiveness of capping gas prices, and the leaders are not due to make a decisive decision on the matter until their summit in Brussels later this month.
“We will have a lot of work this fall and winter, and it will not be easy,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said.
More than half of the European Union countries have pressured the bloc to set a ceiling for the price of gas that reaches it, whether through pipelines or liquefied petroleum, with the onset of winter in the northern hemisphere, but Germany has opposed the move so far, fearing that it would divert supplies away from Europe, the prime minister said. Latvian Krysianis Karenz said that “a ceiling on the price of gas would be great if it is achieved, with the caveat that we cannot jeopardize the security of supplies,” and added: “We cannot set the price in such a way that other parties will not sell gas to Europe.”
Berlin has come under fire from European Union members for stalling on the issue, and after it announced a 200 billion euro ($199 billion) fund to fund its national price ceiling, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said: “My message to Germany is to maintain unity.” With the rest, everyone should agree on a common factor in difficult times.”
Despite some dissatisfaction with Hungary, the bloc has largely managed to stay united in opposition to the Kremlin, while Putin escalated the conflict by declaring the annexation of four occupied regions, and a broader summit of 44 countries from across Europe in Prague highlighted the extent of Moscow’s isolation.
Charles Michel stressed that the European Union “will not be intimidated” after US President Joe Biden warned of the danger of an “end of the world” after Russian President Vladimir Putin escalated his nuclear threats, as the European Union seeks to maintain its support for Kiev while its forces repel Russian soldiers on several Axes over the seven months since the start of the war.