EU leaders to hold extraordinary summit at end of May

By Agnes Szucs

BRUSSELS (AA) – EU leaders will hold an extraordinary meeting at the end of May to discuss the Ukraine war and energy issue, the European Council head announced on Friday.

“​​​​​​​A special European Council will take place on 30 and 31 May. On the agenda notably defense, energy and Ukraine,” Charles Michel, who presides over the reunions of EU leaders, said on Twitter.

The discussions are expected to be difficult since rising energy prices exacerbated by the Russia-Ukraine war deeply divide EU member states.

Leaders were unable to agree on how to tackle rising bills at their last summit in March because of different views on intervening in the energy market.

Some EU countries, including Germany and Hungary, are also reluctant to introduce a ban on Russian energy imports.

The EU has allocated €1 billion (some $1.09 billion) in military support and €500 million in humanitarian aid to Ukrainians, and slapped five sets of sanctions on Moscow since the start of the war on Feb. 24.

The restrictive measures targeted 1,002 individuals and 32 entities in total, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, oligarchs, and military officers.

The EU has also banned coal imports and luxury goods exports to Russia, as well as barring Russian and Belarusian banks from operating in the SWIFT international banking system.