Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
The President of the European Union, Charles Michel, has invited the leaders of the member states to attend the summit scheduled in Brussels next Thursday and Friday.
Our discussions in Prague recently, allowed us to have a frank exchange. We will build concretely on this at the European Council meeting on Thursday and Friday.
The focal point of our agenda is the energy crisis, which we must deal with as quickly as possible. In particular, we must inevitably ramp up our three lines of action: reducing demand, ensuring security of supply and containing prices.
Our meeting will be an opportunity to examine further measures that can bring prices down. This includes: taking full advantage of our unit's negotiating leverage at 27 through joint gas procurement, establishing a new standard that more accurately reflects conditions in the gas market, and examining the temporary dynamic price limit. I also expect that we will address other market interventions in the short and long term, such as the EU Framework for Reducing the Price of Gas for Electricity Generation. I am confident that, despite various national constraints, we will approach the energy debate in a constructive manner, bearing in mind our pressing collective interest.

Our economic prospects will largely depend on how we manage our energy crisis. As a corollary to our energy discussion, I would also like to focus on effectively coordinating our economic policy responses including support for common European solutions.

We will also return to Russia's aggressive war against Ukraine. The Kremlin chose to take several escalatory steps, including launching a mobilization campaign, organizing fake "referendums" to illegally annex Ukraine's territory and following threatening rhetoric. Recently, Russian forces have been indiscriminately shelling civilian areas. The perpetrators of these war crimes must be held accountable. At our meeting, I would like to discuss our assistance to Ukraine, addressing in particular the immediate needs of Ukraine with a view to preparing it for this winter, as well as the sustainability of our assistance in the medium and long term.

Furthermore, in light of recent disruptive attacks against Nordstream pipelines, we will also look at ways to intensify our cooperation to protect critical infrastructure.

Finally, given the current geopolitical context, we need to have a strategic discussion on China, and exchange views on how we would like to frame this critical relationship in the future. I would also like to discuss the preparations for the EU-ASEAN Summit, which will take place on 14 December in Brussels.

The European Council meeting will begin at 3pm on Thursday 20 October. After the traditional exchange of views with the President of the European Parliament, we will deal with the energy crisis and its economic repercussions. Then we will address the remaining topics, not least the situation in Ukraine and other foreign policy issues.