Outcome of the special European Council meeting of 30-31 May 2022

Russia's continuing war on Ukraine was central to the EU leaders' debates at their special meeting on 30-31 May 2022. Closely linked to Ukraine, food security, security and defence, and energy were also high on the agenda. EU leaders approved €9 billion in special macro-financial assistance for Ukraine and agreed on a sixth package of sanctions against Russia, including a ban on seaborne oil (two-thirds of imports) with a temporary exemption for pipeline oil imports. On food security, the European Council strongly condemned the impact of Russia's war on the global food supply chain and focused on ways to coordinate with international partners to ensure the global security of food supplies. In security and defence, the focus was on consolidation, rather than new strategic guidelines. EU leaders examined, but did not endorse, the 'investment gaps' analysis prepared, at their request, by the European Commission and the High Representative/Vice President of the Commission (HR/VP), Josep Borrell. They called on the Council to take forward work on specific items, not least developing a 'joint EU defence strategic programming and procurement' function. On energy, the EU leaders took stock of progress made since their Versailles meeting, on phasing out the EU's dependence on Russian fossil fuels. After presentation of the REPowerEU plan, they agreed that work should continue on supply diversification, renewables, energy efficiency, interconnection, infrastructure and preparedness, including gas storage, price affordability and electricity market optimisation. The President of Cyprus, Nikos Anastasiades, briefed his colleagues on Turkey's assertive behaviour in the area of Varosha.