European Union leaders seem to be at odds over the issuance of the Eurobond for spending as a result of the war in Ukraine. The 27 EU leaders at the summit are set to agree on Thursday reduce their dependence on Russian fossil fuels, although they are divided over whether to reduce gas prices and sanctions on oil imports will be imposed while the war in Ukraine is underway.
In the context of the two-day summit in Versailles, France, theThe leaders are expected to agree on the phasing out of Russian oil, gas and coal, according to a draft, which does not give an expiration date.
An EU official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that some countries were calling for 2030, others for 2027 and some for now. The leaders will agree on steps such as increasing imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and faster development of renewable energy sources to make the transition.
Thursday’s draft conclusions said the European Commission should draw up a plan this month “to ensure security of supply and affordable energy prices for next winter”.
Some countries, according to Reuters, like France want a new joint EU debt to be issued jointly to mitigate the shift from Russian energy imports, to the impact of sanctions imposed on Moscow by Ukraine.
However, Germany, the Netherlands and others are strongly opposed to such a move, saying there is still a lot of unused money in the recovery fund, some 800 billion euros the EU is already borrowing together.
“We will need a strategy for common European investments”
Asked by Emanuel Macron if EU leaders would launch a second EU recovery fund, Macron said he would rather talk first about the goals than the tools to achieve them.
“We will need a strategy for joint European investment. “We have started it with the recovery plan for the summer of 2020. By the way, it can still be used in part,” Macron added.
Macron also said leaders would instruct the European Commission to work out measures to protect households from price increases, adding that several technical proposals were under way and could be finalized by the end of the month.
Source: News Beast
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