No Final Deal On Energy; Door Ajar For EU-Wide Energy Price Relief Program

The EUCO summit of EU member state heads of gov't/state has begun its second day, with focus turning from controlling energy prices and securing supply to foreign policy issues.

• Last night, EU leaders reached something of a deal on energy prices and security regarding capping price spikes and having joint gas purchases, although the final decisions will either be kicked to next week's energy ministers' meeting or, as German Chancellor Olaf Scholz hinted at, another EUCO summit.
• Conclusions on energy and economy: https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-rel...
• Hans von der Burchard at Politico on the prospect of EU-wide programmes to help with energy price crisis: " Fresh signs emerged[...] that Germany and Netherlands are willing to explore a new EU finance instrument [...] if existing money pots [...] aren't enough. Such EU financing might be needed to cushion the fallout of the energy crisis in some countries [...] German Chancellor Olaf Scholz left the door open to such a solution..."We made a decision here that gives a mandate to investigate what is possible," [...]. Similarly, Dutch PM Mark Rutte said that if existing money wasn't enough, the EU would investigate "what might be needed" additionally. As a caveat, both Scholz and Rutte stress that "existing funds,"[...] should be used first before going further."