EU efforts against oil prices

Bronwen Maddox, chief foreign affairs commentator at The Times newspaper, takes a critical view of the EU's efforts to keep the crude oil prices under control at the oil summit in Jeddah: "The European Union and the Opec oil cartel spent yesterday in an entirely vacuous summit. Everything ministers said when it was over was wrong or unwise. ... It was a summit with the sole purpose of being seen (on the European side) to be doing something about the pain of high oil prices, without either side being able to do much about it at all. The slowdown in US and European growth may take the price down from its heights, but the still fast-growing demand from China and India may stop it falling much. In the battle to avoid blame, it is no surprise that ministers claim more influence than they have, and accuse the phantom villains of the world markets. But that will not make the price fall."

» full article (external link, English)
More from the press review on the subject » Energy Policy, » Trade, » Europe, » Global
All available articles from » Bronwen Maddox

» To the complete press review of Wednesday, June 25, 2008