{"id":465740,"date":"2026-09-22T17:37:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T15:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/09\/22\/macron-scrive-a-von-der-leyen-contro-il-caro-carburante-servono-deroghe-alle-norme-ue\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T18:00:26","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T16:00:26","slug":"macron-writes-to-von-der-leyen-exemptions-from-eu-rules-are-needed-to-tackle-high-fuel-prices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/09\/22\/macron-writes-to-von-der-leyen-exemptions-from-eu-rules-are-needed-to-tackle-high-fuel-prices\/","title":{"rendered":"Macron writes to von der Leyen: exemptions from EU rules are needed to tackle high fuel prices"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 In France, one in seven petrol stations has run out of fuel. Faced with a shortage of petrol and diesel and soaring prices linked to the crisis in the Middle East, the French President, Emmanuel Macron<\/strong>, has put pen to paper and, in a letter, asked the European Commission to temporarily relax some of the rules governing fuel and hydrocarbon imports. Paris\u2019s aim is to \u201cboost\u201d import and production capacity in the short term and curb rising prices.<\/strong> The letter, sent on 18 September, has been received by the EU Commission, <\/a>which is \u201cexamining its many aspects,\u201d as confirmed today (22 September) by the Berlaymont Palace spokesperson for Climate and Energy, Anna-Kaisa Itkonen<\/strong>. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe almost total closure of the Strait of Hormuz since March 2026 has led in recent months to a contraction in global oil supply and a significant reconfiguration of global hydrocarbon flows,\u201d explained the French President. Given Europe\u2019s dependence on imports from the Middle East, \u201cparticularly with regard to imports of kerosene (36 per cent) and diesel (18 per cent),\u201d Paris is calling for an \u201cexemption from European specifications on fuel quality\u201d<\/strong>, including \u201cdensity\u201d, \u201ccompression\u201d, and \u201cdesulphurisation\u201d. The aim is to rapidly increase production. According to the \u00c9lys\u00e9e Palace, relaxing these requirements could allow for \u201csignificant increases in production,\u201d by \u201c5\u201320 per cent.\u201d  There is a precedent: similar exemptions were accepted by the Commission during the Covid-19 pandemic. <\/p>\n

Macron is also proposing a \u201crelaxation of the limits on the use of biofuels,<\/strong>\u201d particularly in diesel, so as to gain \u201ca few percentage points of non-fossil fuel per litre\u201d and free up \u201cadditional supply capacity.\u201d Paris is also calling for a one-year postponement of the European regulation on methane emissions. The legislation, adopted by the EU in 2024, stipulates that from January 2027, importers of gas, oil, and coal must monitor and report the methane emissions associated with their supplies. Last July, the Commission had already approved a three-year extension for the penalties applicable in the event of non-compliance. <\/p>\n

The measures listed by the French President<\/strong> \u2013 according to the \u00c9lys\u00e9e \u2013 are emergency measures and must not interfere with long-term objectives<\/strong>, such as electrification<\/a> and the diversification of supply sources. Overall, according to Macron, they could free up several tens of thousands of barrels a day. This quantity is, however, far below France\u2019s average daily consumption of around 1.5 million barrels. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, however, according to the Berlaymont Building, \u201cas long as we remain dependent on imported fossil fuels, our energy prices will continue to be volatile,\u201d commented spokesperson Anna-Kaisa Itkonen. And while the 2022 crisis, triggered by Russia\u2019s war against Ukraine, \u201cwas a supply crisis,\u201d the current one \u201cis something different, requiring a different response,\u201d because \u201cwe are witnessing a global crisis in fossil fuel prices,\u201d which \u201cis driven by the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz.\u201d What is certain for Brussels is that \u201cclean energy sources remain the most cost-effective and are the only medium-term solution to reduce our exposure to price volatility.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paris aims to \u201cstrengthen\u201d its import and production capacity in the short term, thereby curbing price rises. But it makes it clear: \u201cThese are emergency measures and must not interfere with long-term objectives.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7896,"featured_media":433256,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[30800],"tags":[26261,35818,35685,35819,33392,26884,35820,34545,28848,25921],"class_list":["post-465740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-caruburanti","tag-elettrificazione-continente","tag-eliseo","tag-energia","tag-commissione-ue-en","tag-idrocarburi","tag-metano","tag-paris-en","tag-von-der-leyen-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7896"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465740"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465740\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":465741,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465740\/revisions\/465741"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/433256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}