Macron says Europe wants to control fuel, gas prices to prevent surge

By Shweta Desai

PARIS (AA) - French President Emmanuel Macron asserted Europe’s intention to control fuel and gas prices Tuesday to protect Europeans from the reeling effects of the energy crisis due to Russia’s war on Ukraine.

“Our objective is to limit the effects of the war on citizens, our businesses and to be able to re-establish the equilibrium on the energy market and bring down the prices of fossil fuels,” he said at a news conference at the end of a G7 summit in Germany.

The war is driving up the prices of fossil fuels and has caused an asymmetric shock for European countries dependent on Russia for energy needs, he said. The surge in fuel prices had left European economies in an “untenable” situation.

Macron said in the short term, oil-producing countries must boost output and there must be coordination between buyers and producers to buy oil in large quantities to be able to better control fuel prices.

The French president again reinforced the stance that, “Russia cannot and must not win this war.”

He described the attack on a Ukrainian shopping mall that has left at least 18 dead Tuesday as a “war crime” but disagreed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s to recognize Russia as a state sponsor of terror.