EU leaders avoid deep rift on gas price cap at energy summit

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders struggled to find immediate practical solutions on how to deal with an energy crisis but avoided an open rift between Germany and France on Friday that would have exposed a divided bloc as it confronts Russian President Vladimir Putin over his war in Ukraine.

After daylong talks in Brussels dragged well into early Friday, the 27 EU leaders papered over divisions between some of the biggest member states and at least agreed to continue working on ways to impose a natural gas price cap in case of volatility.

French President Emmanuel Macron highlighted his work with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to create a veneer of unity. He said that together with close technical advisers, "I will see Chancellor Scholz in Paris next week so that we can move forward, with our teams, on all the issues."

Scholz said the main issue was curbing "spikes" in gas trading that may last only a few hours but still send prices excessively upward. He said measures to counter that should be further examined but insisted his skepticism about a flat-out price cap, as some have pushed for, has not changed.

"We don't think that in a global market we can say unilaterally where the price should be," he said. "The only thing we can do is to fight against speculation in the market, which is giving wrong information about the real prices. And so this is about spikes, about these episodes of excessive gas prices."

When the axis between Paris and Berlin is aligned, usually the rest of the EU follows. By Friday afternoon, Macron and others were happy to point to the gas market reaction to the news, with prices down about 11% on the day after rising 13% Thursday, when the outcome of the summit was very much in doubt.

"Our challenge was to ... lower gas and electricity prices and remain united. To me, both goals have been met. I can cite as an evidence the markets' reaction after our announcement," Macron said.

Gas prices, however, have steadily fallen since August's record highs, when EU member states sought to outbid each other to fill up national reserves. Just this week, they fell nearly 10% on Monday and more than 11% on Tuesday.

Diplomats said the execution of the proposals, including the possibility of a price cap, should be first properly assessed by energy ministers next Tuesday and might even need a new summit of leaders in the coming weeks.