EU leaders failed on Friday to agree on a short-term solution to the energy market crunch made worse by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but did offer a compromise for Spain where spiraling fuel prices have led to 12 days of trucker blockades.
An intense debate on whether to cap energy prices, pitting some southern countries against Germany and the Netherlands, pushed the second day of an EU summit into the evening, with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez at one point walking out of the meeting room.
In the end, they settled on trade-offs and left a number of issues unresolved.
The war in Ukraine has pushed energy prices to record highs and prompted the European Union to seek to cut Russian gas use by two-thirds this year, by finding gas elsewhere and boosting renewable energy.
While the Mediterranean rim states pressed for a cap on wholesale gas prices to shield poorer households, opponents said this would entail public cash subsidizing fossil fuel generation.
The leaders charged the European Commission with urgently assessing what short-term options, from price caps to tax rebates, could help reduce gas and electricity prices.