There are no easy responses possible to deal with recent food and oil price increases and any measures must be coordinated among the European Union member states, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday.
"We all know that these problems can't be solved with easy responses and individual actions," she told the lower house of parliament in a debate on the meeting of European Union leaders in Brussels that starts later Thursday. "That's not the way to deal with it."
French President Nicolas Sarkozy recently said E.U. countries should trim sales taxes on fuel to help consumers cope with rising prices at the pumps. But his plan has little chance of success because such a move requires the backing of all E.U. member states.
Fiscal measures that would "hinder the necessary adjustment to market conditions should be avoided" and individual E.U. countries should stay away from isolated measures, Merkel said.
Inflation in the euro zone has shot up due to higher fuel and food costs, soaring to 3.7% in May while it reached 3.1% in Germany.
"We will try to have a joint and coordinated approach, for instance also regarding quick and effective help," Merkel said.
She stressed that the most important response is to boost energy efficiency and increase sources of renewable energy.
"We can only fight shortages by trying to uncouple from the consumption of such resources," Merkel said.
She also said that oil demand will be an issue at next month's meeting of the Group of Eight leading nations in Japan in talks with emerging countries.
Turning to this weekend's proposed oil summit in Saudi Arabia, Merkel said that one issue will be whether refinery capacity is sufficient. But reliable planing of emerging countries' demand, in particular China and India, is necessary.
"That's why this will be an issue at the G8 summit during the meeting with emerging countries," she said.
Saudi Arabia has said it will host a the meeting of the world's most influential oil producers and consumers Sunday in a bid to investigate more thoroughly what is driving crude markets.