EU concentrates on energy supply under Czech president

• The Czech Republic has taken over the EU presidency from France.
• Its prime minister and head of the European Commission outlined their priorities for energy reform.
• The EU needs to prepare for a complete cut-off from Russia’s gas supply, according to Ursula von der Leyen.

STRASBOURG, France: As the Czech Republic took over the EU presidency from France on Wednesday, it outlined its priorities, one of which was a more intense focus on energy in light of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the European Commission, warned the European Parliament, “We need to prepare for further disruptions of gas supply, even a complete cut-off from Russia.”

She stated that her commission would release an emergency plan on energy supply security by the end of the following week, which would assist in redirecting gas flows inside the EU to “where it is most needed.”

“We have to provide for European solidarity. And we need to protect the (EU) single market as well as industry’s supply chains,“von der Leyen stated.

Prime Minister Petr Fiala of the Czech Republic informed the European Parliament that the energy plan will reflect the EU’s unity during the height of the Covid crisis.

“The path that the Czech presidency wants to take is primarily to work on common European projects that free us from our dependence on Russia,” he stated.

Von der Leyen and Fiala both said that the reform of the EU’s energy market must give priority to policies that are good for the environment, even though inflation is going up and there are short-term supply problems.

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The European Union has undertaken a 300-billion-euro ($310-billion) strategy to wean itself off of Russian fossil fuel supply and is investing extensively to change the market towards renewable sources.

Ukraine’s post-war rehabilitation, the two leaders declared, would begin under the Czech presidency of the EU, which runs until the end of the year.

Von der Leyen stated that after September, she will convene a high-level conference on this topic with Germany, the current G7 chair.

“Never before have we mastered such a colossal reconstruction challenge. So we need all hands on deck,” she stated,

Ukraine has estimated that rebuilding its war-ravaged nation will cost at least $750 billion.

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