Thank you Nicholas Röhl for Euractiv

Just shortly on the jet fuel crisis, there's conflicting statements from the Commission with the Energy commissioner saying a crisis is imminent,

flights will be grounded this summer while the Transport commissioner is saying no jet fuel crisis is imminent. Which of the two has it right?

Does the Commission hold that there is an imminent jet fuel crisis or shortages? Grounding of planes and whatnot. It's me today. I'm stepping in for Anna-Kaisa.

So the message is clear, and this is what Commissioner Jurgensen and Commissioner Tzitzikostas said,

and this is what Anna-Kaisa has said here last week on the podium.

There are no full shortages at the EU at the present moment.

Obviously part of the preparedness is that we talk to the citizens,

that we inform them, and we know that the situation is not ideal.

There is a crisis in the Middle East which obviously affects the markets here in the European Union.

Our role is mainly to coordinate and to prepare for different scenarios.

We have the oil coordination Group that has met last week and the group will also meet at the end of this week.

The availability of the jet fuels obviously is a priority.

And it's important to say that here in the European Union we have also a significant capacity to refine the crude oil and to produce the jet fuel,

so we are preparing for possible actions, but everything depends on the development of the situation,

and at this stage there are no fuel shortages in the EU.

Thank you very much for that very clear answer, Eva.

To summarize what Eva just said, there is no jet fuel shortage at the present moment, but of course it is incumbent on us to prepare for all possibilities,

and I think if you look at what the Commissioner has said, that message is entirely consistent. Stafford. That was very, very clear. Thank you.

But, a question, just in, in terms of background, nothing political.

Something that you should be able to tell us is how that actually works. Explain how it works.

So we have an oil stocks regulation reserves,

stocks regulation in terms of specialized products, jet fuel, kerosene. What are the stocks now?

How, how does that work in terms of sharing between airports?

How can the Commission move towards, you know, the, in the accelerator you can,

how can you move towards coordinating if there's no change in the regulation? Thanks.

I cannot tell you anything in terms of background, David.

I can tell you here only things on the record, and on the record I can tell you that there are some flexibilities in our legislation,

and these flexibilities would be applied according to the situation.

It depends how The situation would develop, but in terms of citizens and travelers, there are flexibilities that can cover the possible fuel shortages,

ensuring the proper functioning of the internal market and ensuring that the flights around Europe and from European airports mainly would be able to take off. We have a follow up.

Could you explain what these flexibilities are and the the evolving situation, I mean, in more detail,

and can I book my flight to Spain in the summer, you know, is there enough confidence on that? Will there be jet fuel? Thanks. This is totally up to you, David.

I cannot give you such an advice from the podium. It's totally up to you.

Where do you want to go during the summer.

Regarding the flexibilities, for example, there are some flexibilities for the coordination of the slots,

which can give different extensions, for the rules, what,

what the flying companies, need to, need to fulfill.

Airlines can also be granted some full relief from this rule on the routes directly affected by.

The conflicts and regarding the flights that you either will book or won't book,

we also have protection of the passengers in the European Union.

So in case you book your flight, you are obviously covered by this rule. Thank you very much, Eva.

I'll take a few more questions on this topic, but not too many. I have Andreas online. Go ahead, Andreas. Hi, thanks for, for giving the opportunity.

It's, it's the question on Wednesday, there will be the energy package, the presentation of the Commission.

Will the jet fuel issue be part of that?

Is there Enough coordination and enough knowledge right now because there are reports out that it's not yet clear how the stocks and who so about the value and the amount of the stocks that are available in Europe and of course this energy package will then go to the informal Council.

So is this the process or am I wrong here? Thank you for your question.

We're not going to preempt the details of the package that is to be presented, and if Eva wants to add anything, please go ahead. No, absolutely not. You need to wait until Wednesday.

I can just say that the energy package will address different elements that are connected to the current crisis. Many thanks, Eva.

Do we have other questions on energy or other topics for Eva, please go ahead.

The IMF late last week gave a bit of a warning about Europe and its efforts to protect consumers from rising energy costs,

citing distortions to the market as a result of these.

Are these concerns that the Commission shares without getting too far ahead of Wednesday's announcements? Thank you for your question.

Before I hand the floor over to you, I mean, What I would say from the overall Commission perspective is we're trying to strike a balance here.

The Commission plays a coordinating role to try and make sure that.

On the one hand,

Member States can avail of the necessary flexibilities that suit their national context that allow them to offer relief to citizens and businesses in this very complex and turbulent time.

On the other hand, there is the question of maintaining fiscal and economic stability to the greatest extent possible, and so the Commission's mandate,

if you like, is to strike the balance between those two things, and we're satisfied that we're doing that.

In full and to the best of our ability. Anything you want to add, Eva? No, no, absolutely nothing. OK, many thanks.

Do we have other questions on energy for Eva or on the other topics she covers, Nicola, you can have one more go.

Thank you, at least there's conflicting reports on the regional sort of distribution of jet fuel shortages.

Does the Commission have a view which EU countries are going to be hit the earliest,

and if so, are there measures?

Sort of being considered to alleviate regional jet fuel shortages.

In I would need to check the details, but obviously, as I said, there are no fuel shortages at the moment, so I'm not going to speculate here which countries would be would be hit as the first or Even if any countries would be hit by the jet fuel shortages,

because as I said, we coordinate the situation, we are in touch with member states, we have our coordination group,

and mainly if necessary then we have tools that can address the situation and ways how we can act.

Thank you, Eva, I think we're starting to come to an end on these topics.

Mose, you can have it, but keep it short.

Yes, but the fact is that the Strait of Hormuz continues to be closed and it could become worse if the ceasefire does not hold,

and according to reports in the media last week, I think I read that more than 40% of the EU's,

let's say, demand of Jetfuel is imported from the Persian Gulf.

So if that is the case, I would like to ask you, you mentioned that you think that The EU has the capacity, let's say, to refine crude oil into jet fuel,

but is that capacity enough, let's say, to replace such a big amount of the current reports of jet fuel oils from that region.

Mose, thank you for your question, but you're asking about a hypothetical scenario, and we're dealing with the here and now.

So you're saying that if things get worse in the Strait of Hormuz, and we're not going to respond to that kind of hypothetical question.

What we have said is that there is no current jet fuel shortage and,

in parallel, we are doing the work to prepare for other scenarios.

That is what we should be doing as the European Commission, that is what we are doing as the European Commission,

and with that, I declare this topic closed. Other questions for us today, David.