EU Finance Ministers seek common ground on energy strategy

European Union finance ministers on Tuesday (March 15) met to define a common EU strategy in a context of spiking energy prices due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Global energy market prices, which were already high prior to the invasion, which Russia calls a “special military operation”, have skyrocketed since the February 24 invasion and a subsequent wave of U.S. and European sanctions against the former Soviet republic, which supplies around 40 percent of Europe’s gas.

European Union leaders agreed last week to cut their reliance on Russian fossil fuels, but remain divided over whether to cap gas prices and to sanction oil imports.

There is also discord among the 27 EU countries over whether to follow the United States, which announced a ban on Russian oil and gas imports, and Britain, which says it will do so by the end of 2022.

via Reuters