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The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, have set themselves the "priority" of adopting measures within the community to "help" households and companies to face the escalation of prices of energy as a result of economic sanctions on Russia in retaliation for its military invasion of Ukraine.



It is one of the conclusions of the meeting that both have held this Saturday at the Palacio de la Moncloa, in Madrid, where later, in an institutional statement, they have exhibited total harmony to continue pressuring Putin and face the consequences of the war from unity in Ukraine.



Both leaders have expressed their concern about the problems of European citizens and companies when it comes to agreeing on the energy bill.

In fact, Von der Leyen has stated that it will be one of the main issues that European leaders will address at the informal summit to be held next Thursday and Friday in Versailles (France).



Sánchez pointed out that the impact of energy prices on inflation is already "undermining" families and companies and that, for this reason, Spain has been asking the European Union to adopt measures to "cushion" gas prices.

At the meeting, the Spanish president and Von der Leyen reviewed "some proposals" for the Versailles summit.



In relation to energy, which is one of the issues of greatest concern in Brussels, Sánchez and Von der Leyen have opted to "diversify" the sources of supply of the countries of the European Union in order to "get rid" of the current dependence on the gas and coal from Russia.

Interconnect Peninsula and continent


In this sense, both have agreed on the importance of finding other markets to supply themselves, as well as "investing a lot" in renewable energies.

In this regard, Von der Leyen stressed that Spain is "leading" these efforts and highlighted that it currently already has an "impressive" percentage of renewable energies.



For this reason, the President of the Commission has predicted that Spain can play an important role in supplying energy to Europe.

This is why she has indicated that it is a priority to work on the interconnections between the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of the continent.



The meeting in Moncloa was also attended by the First Vice President and Minister of Economy, Nadia Calviño, and the Third Vice President and Minister for the Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, to address all these issues.



Sánchez has stressed that "we need to move forward in key technological sectors" with a renewed trade policy and accelerating the energy transition.

"The European Union will emerge stronger from all these challenges," she said.

Spain offers to host refugees

Another of the consequences of the war that has been addressed in the meeting of more than an hour and a half has been the refugees.

Sánchez has expressed to Von der Leyen his willingness to welcome refugees.

An offer that she has thanked him for.



"We know we can count on you," she replied to the Spanish president, emphasizing that immediate help will be needed because there are already more than 1.2 million Ukrainians who have fled the war.



Brussels recently took the decision to give residence permits of at least one year to all Ukrainian refugees so that they can access the labor market, schooling or medical care.



Sánchez stressed that Putin made the mistake of thinking that Europe would be "divided".

While Von der Leyen has emphasized that democracy is "something that has no price and that we have to defend at all costs", despite the economic consequences.

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  • Ursula von der Leyen

  • European Union

  • Ukraine

  • Russia

  • Theresa Rivera

  • Nadia Calvino

  • Pedro Sanchez

  • European Comission

  • War Ukraine Russia

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