NICOSIA, CYPRUS (AP) – Europe must “re-industrialise” to become more self-sufficient and less dependent on third countries for energy and key raw materials, Spain’s prime minister said on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Petro Sanchez said after talks with Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides in the Cypriot capital that Europe needs to be “strategically autonomous”, especially in the wake of the war in Ukraine.
Sanchez, whose country assumes the European Union’s (EU) rotating presidency on July 1, said this push toward less reliance on others for defence, as well as high-tech hardware such as semi-conductors and microchips doesn’t mean regression to a state of economic protectionism.
The Spanish premier said the EU needs to reach out to key regions such us the Caribbean and Latin America as well as nations on its southern periphery including Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan.
A summit between the EU and the so-called southern neighbourhood countries is set for December. Sanchez called a reduction on coal use in energy generation an “absolute priority” for Europe, as well a balancing out the cost of energy between producers and consumers.
Christodoulides said both leaders agreed to seek out alternative energy routes as well as nudging forward the EU’s pivot toward ‘green’ energy.
