European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday that “Russia’s attacks on civilian infrastructure” in Ukraine mark “a new chapter in an already cruel war.” In this regard, the president of the community executive recalls that “the international order is clear”, framing actions such as those of Russia.
“These are war crimes!”, emphasized the head of the community executive, considering that the “attacks directed at civil infrastructure have the clear objective of depriving men, women, and children of water, electricity, and heating now that the winter”. The president goes further and says that they are “acts of pure terror, and we have to call them that.”
Von der Leyen reiterated his continued support for Ukraine “for as long as it takes” and promised to “protect Europeans from another war that Putin is waging against our energy.”
On the eve of the European Summit, in which energy will be one of the central axes of the debate, the President of the Commission acknowledges that “Europeans are concerned”, with the worsening of conditions in terms of “inflation and energy bill” .
For the President of the European Executive, “the best response to Putin’s gas blackmail is European unity and solidarity”. Von der Leyen’s statement is in line with the regulation proposal that he presented on Tuesday afternoon, “to deal with the energy crisis.”
One of the aspects of the proposal involves the joint purchase of gas by European companies. A measure that for von der Leyen is “as logical as it is important”, which he seeks to ensure that “instead of overlapping, Europeans buy gas together”.
Another of the measures is aimed at the distribution of gas in Europe, to deal with the exposure that some Member States have to Russian gas. “The situation is especially challenging for the landlocked countries of Central Europe,” acknowledges Von der Leyen, noting that “in a single market with highly integrated supply chains, an outage in one Member State has a huge impact on all Member States. members”.
The president criticizes, however, the fact that “only six of the 40 possible agreements have been signed” in terms of gas distribution, which for Von der Leyen “is simply not enough.”
“That is why we are going to establish standard rules for the Member States, which will be binding, from the moment they do not conclude individual solidarity agreements”, he stressed, considering that “energy solidarity is a fundamental principle in our Treaties”.
The regulation proposal that will be debated from tomorrow at the highest level by the 27, in Brussels, also aims to “control the volatility and extreme price increases in the main European gas market, which is called TTF”. For this reason, “benchmark” limits will be introduced for gas purchases.
“The TTF reference was conceived mainly for piped gas, but we all know that this market has changed drastically, towards a greater consumption of Liquefied Natural Gas. Therefore, the TTF no longer reflects the true market situation. Complementary reference specific to LNG for the next filling station [dos depósitos de gás]”, justified the president of the Commission.
Von der Leyen also expressed “concern about the competitiveness of the European economy”, at “times of high economic uncertainty”, expecting “all actions [entre os 27] take this into account”, that is, speeding up the investment plan of the project called REPowerEU, launched in March, to replace Russian gas.
Source: TSF
