With many EU countries feeling the pressure of high energy prices and being weary of what the future holds for energy under the bloc’s green deal, member state leaders have discussed energy issues in this week’s summit, Belgian news portal EurActiv reports.
The summit took place on Thursday, December 16, in Brussels, where some member states – centrally Poland – called on the EU to curb volatile prices in the carbon market by limiting speculative activity. The position was at odds with that of other countries, with Germany among them.
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A debate also took place over whether the EU should label gas and nuclear energy structures as climate-friendly investments. A number of countries sought to hurry the European Commission into proposing in December the rules on its «sustainable finance taxonomy», a policy that has become the focus of active lobbying from governments.
In addition, the talks broke up with no agreement on any energy issues, after leaders could not agree on a final text of the European Council’s traditional, joint conclusions. «We have realised that there were divergent opinions around the table and we were unable to reach agreement on the conclusions presented,» said EU summit chair Charles Michel. He added that leaders would discuss the issue again at a future meeting.
EU summit focuses of energy resource issues and prices
