Antonio Costa, European Council: "Energy transition - our main task”

No one can ignore the fact that we are facing difficult times in terms of energy and that we must address this issue, Antonio Costa, President of the European Council, declared yesterday, according to consilium.europa.eu, on the occasion of the spring meeting on 19-20 March, in Brussels, an event that has on the agenda military developments in the Middle East, the situation in Ukraine, defense policy, migration.

Antonio Costa stressed: "The current conflict in Iran demonstrates, once again, that the best way to have a predictable and reliable energy horizon is to increase domestic energy production. It is the only way we can become autonomous and independent and secure our energy system. To this end, we must continue our energy transition, and this is our main task. Of course, we must do this taking into account the specificities of the different Member States, the specificities of certain economic sectors, which are large energy consumers. But we must do this together and never forget that we must not only protect our current businesses, but also ensure that the next generation will continue to have a planet to live on. This is an aspect that is part of the climate and environmental objective." The Brussels official also said: "It is clear that energy means security. We must strengthen our capacity to produce our own energy, because this is the only way to be safe."

On the other hand, Antonio Costa mentioned that 2026 is the "European Year of Competitiveness”, and boosting economic competitiveness "is essential to increase our economic growth, to create quality jobs, but also to increase our strategic autonomy”. Antonio Costa stated: "We have to continue, we have to integrate the energy and telecommunications sectors into the single market, we have to continue our simplification agenda and we have to invest more in innovation in new sectors: AI, quantum computing. We have to invest more in skills, in reskilling, in updating skills and in lifelong learning. Then, our future long-term budget must be fit for purpose. And, of course, we also have to mobilise European economies to support investment. To this end, we have to complete the Union of the Economy and Investment; it is very, very important”.

• Roberta Metsola, EP: "If Europe wants to speak the language of power, it must be recognized as an economic force”

Europe risks missing the decisive moment in a world marked by crises and global competition if it does not quickly consolidate its economic power, the President of the European Parliament (EP), Roberta Metsola, warned in a speech at the Euro Summit held yesterday, on the sidelines of the European Council meeting. She said: "Too often we let events dictate our agenda. That is understandable, but it cannot become our rule. If Europe wants to speak the language of power, it must be recognized as an economic force.”

The EP President mentioned that energy is a strategic priority for the EU, stressing: "The most urgent issue, both from a competitiveness and geopolitical perspective, is energy. (...) The EU has already paid 6 billion euros more for fossil fuel imports since the beginning of the conflict, and costs could increase”.

Metsola, however, rejected the idea of returning to the energy situation before the war in Ukraine, stating: "Any attempt to return to the previous situation would be a mistake. We must maintain our direction”.

• Migration, in the attention of the European Commission

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and a group of 16 EU countries met yesterday for discussions on the impact of the war in Iran on migration flows to Europe, with the aim of coordinating a response to potential new crises, EFE reports.

Von der Leyen presented, in an informal meeting held on the sidelines of the European Council, the main lines of work of the Commission to address the migration flows resulting from the conflict in the Middle East. The leaders present at the meeting agreed to maintain close operational cooperation in order to prepare for future international meetings on migration.