EU countries agreed to continue working on voluntary joint purchases of gas and a new price benchmark by 2023 among other measures.
ADVERTISEMENTEU countries agreed overnight to continue work on several emergency measures to curb high energy prices but kicked further discussions down the road to energy ministers.
"There is the strong determination, shared unanimously, as the written conclusions attest, to act together, as Europeans, to achieve three goals: bring prices down, guarantee the safety of supply and continue to work to reduce demand," said European Council President Charles Michel.
Countries agreed to move forward on making joint gas purchases and creating a new gas price benchmark by early 2023 that better reflects the market.
They also endorsed progress on a temporary price ceiling on natural gas transactions and called on the European Commission to "urgently submit concrete decisions" on the measures.
"We do now have a very good and solid roadmap to keep on working on the topic of energy prices," said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
"The leaders have given the strategic guidance we wanted on the proposal we have put on the table," she added.
They will also continue working on a temporary framework to cap the price of gas used in electricity generation -- known as the Iberian exception -- but called for a "cost benefit analysis".
The agreement followed a package of proposals announced by the European Commission earlier this week.
The Commission has received "support for all the proposals it has made. We even asked them to go further," said French President Emmanuel Macron.
He said the EU would likely have measures to implement by the end of the month or the beginning of next month.
Take a look back: here are our updates on Thursday from the EU Council summit.