BRUSSELS — EU leaders must urgently focus on lowering energy prices that are “suffocating” European industry, Austria’s chancellor told POLITICO ahead of an informal summit in Belgium.
“The most urgent task is lowering energy prices,” Christian Stocker said. “No other factor is suffocating European industry so much, and no other issue affects so many member states simultaneously.”
Stocker’s message comes ahead of an EU summit on Thursday at which leaders will gather to try to agree on a shared agenda to kick-start economic growth and make the bloc more independent.
His push comes amid a flurry of comments from EU leaders seeking to shape the meeting’s agenda, with French President Emmanuel Macron advocating for joint debt and a European preference policy in an interview with several media outlets published Tuesday morning.
