Verbatim report of proceedings

Wednesday, 19 October 2022 - Strasbourg

Preparation of the European Council meeting of 20-21 October 2022 (debate)

  Luděk Niedermayer (PPE). – Madam President, let me start on Ukraine. I fully share the statements of the Commission President: acts of Russia are acts of terror. Our reaction must be to show more commitment to all fronts to the fight of Ukrainians. At the same time, I believe it’s time to formalise more our plans on how to support Ukraine reconstruction. We can go farther. We can appoint people, set up the structure and start work and do it now.

On energy, I believe we need more cooperation among the Member States. Energy plans that are based on subsidising the cost of energy to a mere fraction of the market price can undermine energy security, can create big political tensions, and at the same time can undermine the functionality of the market. These plans are not the way forward. We need more cooperation on this and sustainable economic support for our households and businesses.