The EU is worried about rising energy prices. It wants countries to use less gas and electricity to help control prices. The EU's Energy Commissioner said: "We are facing a price crisis linked to a supply crisis." He said using less energy could help keep fuel prices down. He added that supplies are limited. He pointed out that gas storage in Europe is only 68 per cent full. The EU said that any action to control energy prices should be "well targeted" and "temporary". It thinks European countries should use less energy until the situation gets better.
In particular, Europe is worried about diesel prices. Diesel is used for farming, construction, shipping, and other industries. Higher diesel prices increase the cost of our food. The EU imports around 50 per cent of its diesel from the USA. The EU is worried it might not be able to import enough diesel from the USA. Recently, President Donald Trump talked about banning diesel exports from the USA. He said that he was thinking about a ban "very seriously". EU leaders want European countries to produce more clean energy so that they can rely less on imported energy.
Try the same news story at these levels:
Energy Prices - Level 0, Energy Prices - Level 1 or Energy Prices - Level 3
Sources- https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-commission-calls-for-gas-electricity-demand-cuts/
- https://www.dw.com/en/diesel-prices-are-surging-putting-further-pressure-on-europe/a-79390992
- https://www.euronews.com/2026/09/25/how-european-governments-are-trying-to-ease-the-fuel-price-shock
Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice activities, drag and drop activities, sentence jumbles, which word activities, text reconstructions, spelling, gap fills and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)