EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke at the joint press conference held after her meeting with Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas in Tallinn.
Reminding that they took many measures to end dependence on Russian energy resources after Russia’s attack on Ukraine on February 24, von der Leyen summarized the latest situation as follows:
“We managed to get rid of Russian coal completely. In addition, we will reduce the share of oil purchased from Russia to 10 percent by the end of the year. At the beginning of the war, Russia’s share in imported gas was 40 percent. In the last 7 months, it has increased to 7.5 percent. We downloaded it.”
Von der Leyen described these rates as “massive efforts by Russia to switch from fossil fuels to reliable suppliers and invest in renewable energy.”
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“The best way to avoid Russia’s blackmail is to accelerate the renewable energy and clean transformation,” von der Leyen said. said.
Referring to the increase in energy prices after the war in Ukraine, von der Leyen stated that they will bring new proposals to reduce energy prices until the EU Leaders’ Summit on October 20-21.
Von der Leyen stated that they supported the establishment of an international court for war crimes, helped Ukraine to collect evidence, and supported bringing the issue to the International Criminal Court.
Estonian Prime Minister Kallas also stated that a lawsuit should be filed for “aggression crimes” and “war crimes”, and that an international court is needed for the crime of aggression.
Stating that this can be established in the EU and other countries can join, Kallas said, “I think the EU can play a leading role in the establishment of such an international court.” he said.