After a gruelling 11 hours of negotiations among EU Member State leaders, Charles Michel, the President of the European Council, triumphantly announced on social media in the early hours of Friday morning that the EU had reached an agreement to address Europe's burgeoning energy crisis.
"We have a deal on #energy," Michel tweeted. "There is a strong and unanimous commitment to act together, as Europeans, to reach three goals: lower prices; guarantee the security of supply; and continue to work to reduce demand."
In a late-night press conference, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen concurred with Michel's positive assessment of the summit's outcome.
"We had a very good European Council," von der Leyen said. "We now have a very good and solid roadmap to keep on working on the topic of energy prices."
"The leaders have given the strategic guidance we wanted on the proposal that we have put on the table on Tuesday and that will be discussed next week [on] Tuesday [in Luxembourg] by the energy ministers," she added.
Beneath the surface, disunity lurks
Despite the outward show of unity, deep divisions remain between Member States over key issues.
One major source of disagreement concerns the introduction of a cap on gas prices, an idea supported by more than half of the bloc's Member States but strongly resisted by the usual suspects: Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark.
Germany, in particular has led the opposition. The EU's largest economy fears that a price cap could reduce incentives to cut energy consumption and could also lead to global energy supplies being redirected to Asia.
Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and Prime Minister of Italy Mario Draghi at a summit of the European Council in Brussels, Thursday 20 October 2022. Credit: Belga / Benoit Doppagne
Hungary, too, has serious reservations regarding the implementation of an EU-wide price cap, amid fears that it could lead to Moscow restricting its gas supply to the landlocked country.
In a meek attempt at reconciling these competing interests, the EU's press release called for a "cost and benefit analysis" to be conducted on the merits of introducing a price cap.
Germany snubbed in new pipeline project
In another sign of simmering tension, on the eve of the EU Summit, France agreed with Portugal and Spain to scrap the planned MidCat pipeline, a project that Germany had been championing for many years.
President of France Emmanuel Macron speaks to the press. Credit: Belga / Benoit Doppagne
MidCat envisioned the construction of an overland pipeline connecting gas terminals in Spain and Portugal with France, Germany, and potentially other Northern European countries.
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In a direct snub at Germany, the leaders of France, Spain, and Portugal separately agreed to "abandon the MidCat project and instead create, as a matter of priority, a Green Energy Corridor connecting Portugal, Spain and France with the EU's energy network."
In particular, these leaders announced, an underwater pipeline — the 'BarMar' — would be built connecting Barcelona with Marseille, with no further plans to extent this pipeline onward towards Germany.
