Angela Merkel – Photo © European Union 2021
(BRUSSELS) – EU countries and the European Commission should urgently use the tools available to rein in surging energy prices, EU leaders affirmed Friday at the end of their two-day summit in Brussels.
The summit had been called to discuss COVID-19, energy prices, trade and external relations. They also held a debate on the rule of law. On 22 October, they talked about migration and the EU’s digital transition.
The EU Council addressed in particular the recent spike in energy prices and considered the impact of these price rises on businesses and people striving to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Council invited the Commission to study the functioning of the gas and electricity markets, as well as the EU ETS market with the help of the European Securities Markets Authority (ESMA). Subsequently, the Commission will assess whether certain trading behaviours require further regulatory action.
EU leaders also invited states and Commission to urgently make the best use of the toolbox to provide short-term relief to the most vulnerable consumers and companies, taking into account the diversity and specificity of the situations of the member states.
The Commission and the Council should also swiftly consider medium and long-term measures, which would: contribute to energy at a price that is affordable for households and companies; increase the resilience of the EU’s energy system and the internal energy market; provide security of supply and support the transition to climate neutrality, taking into account the diversity and specificity of the situations of the member states.
Finally, EU leaders called on the European Investment Bank to examine how to speed up investment in the energy transition.
Also at the summit, EU leaders noted that vaccination campaigns around Europe have brought about significant progress in the fight against COVID-19. Nevertheless, the situation in some member states remains very serious. Leaders called for efforts to overcome vaccine hesitancy to be stepped up, including by tackling disinformation, notably on social media.
Leaders called for the rapid removal of obstacles hampering the global rollout of vaccines, and invited the Commission to further engage directly with manufacturers in this respect. This will allow member states to speed up the delivery of vaccines to countries most in need. The EU will continue to support the production and uptake of vaccines in partner countries.
Ahead of the COP26 meeting in Glasgow, EU leaders called for an ambitious global response to climate change. It is essential to keep the 1.5°C global warming limit within reach. The European Council recalled the commitment by the EU and its member states to continue scaling up their climate financing, and called on other developed countries to urgently increase their contribution to the collective climate finance goal of USD 100 billion per year through to 2025.
Regarding the digital agenda and some key legislative files, The European Council called for a swift examination of the Commission’s proposal for the policy programme “Path to the Digital Decade” with a view to implementing the 2030 Digital Compass, thereby setting specific digital targets for this decade.
The European Council also reviewed progress on a series of key legislative files, and encouraged the Council and the Parliament to reach an agreement on the Roaming Regulation, the Digital Services Act and the Digital Markets Act as soon as possible.
