BRUSELAS, 24 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The third vice president of the Government and head of Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, defended this Monday that the European Union is accelerating its conversion for the decarbonization of its economy despite the "temporary" increase in gas and coal consumption that has been linked to reasons of energy security after the rupture with Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine.

"It is vital that Europe shows that, although we need a certain flexibility in the short term, and some countries are once again increasing their consumption of coal and gas, it is something absolutely temporary for reasons of energy security", Ribera told the press in Luxembourg, upon arrival at a meeting of EU environment ministers.

At this meeting, the Twenty-seven plan to adopt a text that defines the common position ahead of the XXVII Climate Summit (COP27), to be held next November in Sharm El Sheik (Egypt), but the discussion is still "open" to the ministers.

Looking ahead to this international event, Ribera considered that one of the messages that the European Union must make clear to the rest of the participants is that Europe "is accelerating its transformation" to achieve decarbonisation that places the bloc in a "much safer" position much more stable.

The objective of this trend towards the decarbonisation of the European economy, he said, is to "win the battle" in the current context, in which the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent energy crisis have revealed the "vulnerability" that EU countries are facing.

After the meeting of environment ministers this Monday, Ribera will continue on Tuesday in Luxembourg to attend a new meeting of EU energy ministers to advance the technical development of the latest energy market intervention measures proposed by Brussels and that Last week they received the political endorsement of the EU Heads of State and Government at a summit in Brussels.