EU to act quickly on food and fuel price rises

The head of the European commission has said that Europe will not stand in the way of measures by national governments to tackle rising fuel and food prices.

José Manuel Barroso also said that while he understood the need for short-term solutions to these problems, it was important not to lose sight of Europe’s long-term plans in these areas.

“Member states are free to act with emergency measures,” he told journalists at the European council summit on Friday.

“These emergency measures must, of course, not conflict with our long-term objectives…the real, structural response to rising oil and fuel prices is the climate and renewable energies package”

Barroso said, however, that given that “people expect answers to the rise in food and oil prices”, there would be a series of immediate EU responses to these problems.

These initiatives include an extended programme of emergency food aid to the most deprived areas of Europe, a new fund to help agriculture in developing countries, and an emergency package for the fisheries sector.

Food prices have soared by more than 60 per cent in the last year, sparking riots in some countries, and it is estimated that 100 million people have been pushed into poverty as a result.

The price of oil on the international markets has also dramatically increased, and now costs twice as much as it did 12 months ago.

Barroso warned that short-term solutions had to be replaced by structured policies.

“There needs to be a change of paradigm in terms of energy consumption,” he said.

“It is important to be less dependent on oil and gas. There will be no quick fix, no magic solution,” he added.

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