Germany is determined to uphold European solidarity while tackling an energy crisis in the coming winter, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Thursday.

"The European Union must handle these difficult times in solidarity, this is something I explicitly commit to," Scholz told journalists in a news conference in Berlin.

"I believe that, as the biggest country with the greatest economy and the largest population at the centre of Europe, we have a special task."

Germany cannot play games against Brussels to please a domestic audience, he added.

"We are the ones that have to do their share so that progress and sustainability come to pass in Europe. This is something that I commit to," Scholz said. (Reporting by Paul Carrel, Rachel More, Kirsti Knolle, Matthias Williams, Sabine Siebold; Editing by Maria Sheahan)


Reuters