France and Spain have called on Europe for a coordinated response to rising global energy prices to protect the poorest and competitive companies, and to defend Europe's ambitious plan to end CO2 emissions by 2050.

Gas prices in the European Union surged to record highs on Friday as Russia, the block's main gas supplier, severely restricted supplies.

French Finance Minister Bruno le Maire will propose to better regulate European gas reserves and to separate the price of electricity from gas prices in favor of linking it to the average cost of production in each EU country.

According to him, solving the problem of long-term growth in energy prices will become one of the main political issues in the coming years.