The 27 EU member-states' leaders on Friday held an informal EU summit meeting in Prague to discuss the energy crunch and efforts to curb the soaring gas prices.

We are supposed to find a joint response of all member-states to rising gas prices, and members cannot solve this issue individually. During the Covid-19 pandemic we had a huge problem and we found the joint response through the creation of the EU next generation instrument, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said before the summit meeting in the capital city of Czechia that is holding the rotating presidency of the EU.

Two days ago, the European Commission’s President, Ursula von der Leyen, sent a letter to all the EU leaders, as her answer to a letter of 15 member-states, including Croatia, that asked for capping the wholesale gas price.

The EC President expresses her readiness to propose the capping of the price of gas supplies used for the production of electricity, however, she seems not inclined to the overall gs price restriction.

Plenkovic expects von der Leyen to present in greater detail her proposal at the Prague summit meeting. Plenkovic is also due to meet European Parliament President Roberta Metsola ahead of Croatia’s admission to the Schengen Area.

On Friday, a Portuguese member of the EP, Paulo Rangel, an EP  rapporteur for Croatia’s entry into the passport-free Schengen zone, arrived in Zagreb. On Monday, 10 October, this MEP is expected to present the EP Committee on Civil Liberties with his draft on Croatia’s Schengen membership bid.

On Thursday, the European Political Community held its inuagural meeting in Prague, bringing together the leaders of the 27 EU member states and another 17 European countries. Those 44 leaders  discussed Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, economic situation, energy and climate, and migration and mobility, in smaller groups before breaking up for bilateral meetings.

The next meeting of this EPC will take place in Moldova. Croatia’s PM welcomed the EPC forum as a good initiative for discussions on the political, energy, security and economic situation in Europe.