Considers Russian bombing of civilian infrastructure in Ukraine “war crimes”
BRUSELAS, 19 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, defended this Wednesday her proposal for centralized purchases from the European Union of at least 15% of the gas reserves of the Member States, warning that it was precisely the competition between the countries of the bloc during the summer which triggered gas prices last August.
“Instead of dedicating themselves to outperforming each other, Europeans should buy gas together. It’s very simple,” he assured in a plenary debate of the European Parliament meeting in Strasbourg (France), focused on the latest proposal of the Community Executive to intervene the market that will serve as a basis for discussion at the summit of EU leaders this Thursday and Friday in Brussels.
Von der Leyen explained the interest in having a mandatory objective of acquiring at least 15% of the capacity of national gas deposits through the new joint purchasing platform in order to have more influence on the markets.
“If we act like this, it is because we learned the lesson: In August, at the height of the campaign to replenish stocks, we saw how the Member States literally competed with each other and prices shot up,” German policy has reasoned.
For this reason, it is “absolutely necessary to mutualise the demand for gas”, he concluded on this initiative, before listing the rest of the measures that make up the package of proposals that the EU Heads of State and Government will discuss and include other ideas such as set a flexible and temporary ceiling on the price of gas purchases.
In addition to the energy crisis, the other key to this week’s European summit will be the European Union’s continued support for Ukraine in the face of the Russian invasion despite the violent escalation of Vladimir Putin’s regime.
“Russia’s attacks directed against civil infrastructure, especially against electrical networks, open a new chapter in a war that is already cruel. The rules of the international order are clear, we are facing war crimes,” Von der Leyen asserted. .
The head of the Community Executive has criticized the “acts of pure terror” that Moscow has directed against civil infrastructure to “clearly deprive men, women and children of water, electricity and heating as winter approaches.”
For this reason, Von der Leyen has insisted that the pulse must be held and has warned that the EU “will support Ukraine for as long as it takes”.
