Brussels - (AFP) - European Union leaders agreed Thursday night on a "road map" aimed at putting in place measures in the coming weeks to stop rising energy prices.

Although the European bloc wanted, after the arduous negotiations, to appear as a united front, many points still have to be settled, and the negotiations in the coming weeks will be difficult.

"We now have a very good road map," said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, while European Council President Charles Michel spoke of "agreement on a package of measures" that must now be "dealt with carefully."

"Unity and solidarity prevail. An agreement to work on measures to contain energy prices for homes and businesses," Michel wrote on Twitter, without going into further details.

But German Chancellor Olaf Scholz made it clear that if the energy ministers could not agree on a final version, a new summit of heads of state would be needed.

According to French President Emmanuel Macron, the envisaged mechanisms could be implemented "at the end of October or the beginning of November." He said the leaders "sent a very clear signal to the markets about their determination and unity."

According to the conclusions issued at the end of the meeting, the heads of state and government ask the Commission to present them "urgently with concrete decisions" on a package of measures to curb volatile gas prices.

The twenty-seven countries agreed to promote joint gas purchases at the level of the European Union.

It also called on these countries to "accelerate their negotiations" with "reliable" producing countries such as Norway and the United States, in order to "take advantage of the economic weight" of the European Union.

European Union leaders meet Thursday and Friday in Brussels in an attempt to overcome their divisions and reach a common response to the huge rise in energy prices, against the backdrop of Franco-German tension.

The war in Ukraine and the sanctions imposed on Russia shocked the prices of oil, gas and electricity. But Europe has been moving slowly since February due to the sometimes conflicting interests of member states.

However, the situation requires swift action.

Belgian Prime Minister Alexandre de Croo confirmed this week that this summit is "the most important in a long time." He said that if this does not lead to a "clear political signal that we have the will to stop enduring high gas prices", then this will constitute a "failure for Europe".

Thousands of European companies fear for their survival due to competition from the United States and Asia, where prices have remained lower. In Germany and France, thousands of people demonstrated against the high cost of living.

A meeting was held between Macron and Scholz on Thursday afternoon to try to sort out their differences just before the start of the meeting.

Macron stressed upon his arrival in Brussels, "I always wish to preserve European unity and the friendship and alliance between Germany and France as well," stressing that "we have a lot of work ahead of us."

"Both of us work at the national level and I think it is always better to consult and coordinate," he added. "I have always considered it my duty to do everything so that we find paths of agreement between Germany and France, which would then make it possible to build European agreements," the French president added.

Several diplomats expected the discussions to be long between the leaders of states and governments.

Spain's Minister of Environmental Transition, Teresa Ribera, openly criticized the European Commission's work in an interview with Agence France-Presse. "The proposals are still a bit shy and we still lack concrete action on the majority of issues," she said.

She added, "A real effort was made a year ago (...) but it is very unfortunate to see how slow Europe's response to the challenge we face is."

During the recent Prague summit in early October, several leaders attacked the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Kuravici accused her of representing German interests.

Italian Mario Draghi said, according to statements reported to Agence France-Presse, that "seven months of delay is causing us a recession."

However, the President of the European Commission faces divisions among the twenty-seven countries that adopt a different mix of energy sources. Some depend on nuclear power and others on gas or even coal to produce electricity.

These countries are also divided over the issue of capping the price of gas used to produce electricity. Such a mechanism is applied in Spain and Portugal, where it has allowed prices to decline.

And calls for several countries such as France to expand this mechanism, "Iberian" to become at the level of the European Union.

However, Germany opposes this, in addition to several northern countries, including Denmark and the Netherlands, which are reticent about the authorities' interference in the markets. Berlin believes that lowering prices artificially harms the goal of saving energy and pushes for more consumption.

Scholz said Thursday that a cap on gas prices can only succeed through close cooperation with non-EU partners such as South Korea and Japan.

He added, speaking to parliamentarians before the start of the EU summit, that setting a price ceiling "carries the risk that producers will sell their gas elsewhere, and we Europeans will end up with less gas instead of more."

The summit draft results call on the Commission to prepare a proposal on this mechanism.

"The Iberian pattern deserves to be studied," von der Leyen said Wednesday. "Some questions remain, but I don't want to neglect any possibility."

"It is important to move forward more quickly on this front. We should not ask the Commission four times to get a proposal," Teresa Ribera stressed.

Von der Leyen detailed other proposals this week, including organizing gas purchases jointly, new rules in an effort to force gas sharing in Europe to help countries in difficulty, or reforming the gas market index (European Gas Exchange), which is used as a reference in transactions.

A European diplomat said, "There is progress, but without a major breakthrough. The priorities are different. Germany prefers security of supplies because it can afford high prices, but many countries cannot face the cost."