MEPs stressed the urgent need to support EU citizens in the face of record high gas and electricity prices during a plenary debate on 6 October. EPP’s Siegfried Mureşan (Romania) said: "It is affecting citizens, it is affecting European enterprises, particularly small and medium sized enterprises, which were already hit by the pandemic and by the economic consequences of the pandemic. It is our duty to help citizens and enterprises overcome this crisis of increased energy prices.”
Kadri Simson, the European Energy Commissioner, stressed the need for action: "This price shock cannot be underestimated. It is hurting our citizens, in particular the most vulnerable households, weakening competitiveness and adding to inflationary pressure. If left unchecked, it risks compromising Europe's recovery as it takes hold. There is no question that we need to take policy measures - Europe has come through high energy prices many times in the past - and responded to them through diversification of supplies sources and market innovation."
She highlighted the importance of making clear that current price hikes had little to do with the EU's climate policy, but much to do with Europe's dependence on imported fossil fuels.
For Philippe Lamberts (Greens/EFA, Belgium), the situation is a wakeup call for a faster transition towards renewable energy and for more solidarity: "Faced with this energy insecurity, first of all the member states have to respond by using additional tax revenues to guarantee and extend preferential social tariffs and help target the most vulnerable households. Producing in a sustainable and fair way is more expensive than dirty and unfair. If we wish everyone to be able to afford a decent life based on dignity, we have to turn around these inequalities. Without social justice, the energy transition won't happen, and without this, our societies will collapse."
Manon Aubry (The Left, France) said energy should be a common good and must be accessible to everybody. “You turned it into a product like any other with which you could speculate and make profits. Either to eat or to heat should not be a luxury but a fundamental right.”
Energy market reform
Some MEPs proposed to redesign the European energy market. Stressing the fundamental and urgent need to provide minimum wellbeing for all European citizens, Iratxe García Pérez (S&D, Spain) said: “First the Commission must present a plan for states to act in a coordinated way when we have stress on the energy market, making sure we have a real European Union of energy. Second, we must slow down speculation on the CO2 market and third, we need to make sure that we have new standards in the functioning of the electric marketplace to ensure a cheaper energy mix.”
Renew Europe’s Christophe Grudler (France) said the EU should look into three areas to resolve the energy crisis: reinforcing energy storage facilities and considering common procurement of gas; promoting energy made in Europe (including hydrogen) by reducing dependence on fossil fuels from other countries; and a rapid reform of the European energy markets, including putting a stop to the tie between electricity and gas prices. “The European energy market needs to be reformed along the lines of the Green Deal,” he concluded.
Climate policies
The role of the EU’s ambitious climate policy in the rising energy prices divided opinion. Anže Logar, the Slovenian Minister for Foreign Affairs representing the Council presidency, said the EU’s climate policy and notably the Fit for 55 package is “neither the source of the current surge of energy prices nor a short-term solution. In the long-term the decarbonisation of the European economy can contribute to mitigating fluctuating energy prices and to fighting energy poverty,” he said. In the meantime, vulnerable households should be offered income assistance via the Social Climate Fund, Logar added.
Joëlle Mélin (ID, FR) said that the focus on renewable energy in the European Green Deal could increase Europe’s vulnerability to market shocks. “Member states should be able to make decisions on their energy mix on their own and shouldn’t have to be part of failure,” she said.
Beata Szydło (ECR, Poland) emphasised that the trend of rising energy prices continues and expressed doubts that the Fit for 55 package would bring the desired results. “I think we have to be extra careful about those solutions. You were talking about what caused this spike in energy prices. This is partly due to the pricing of emissions. Where were those decisions taken? In this house,” she said. “I think we have to re-think our energy policy.”
Ref.: 20210930STO13941
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