EU chief warns billions could be wasted if energy aid is not well targeted as the Iran war bites
BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union countries must direct energy aid mainly to vulnerable households and industries or risk wasting billions of euros. Iran war It will hit oil and gas prices, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned on Wednesday.
The US-Israeli war, combined with Iran’s retaliation such as strangling the Strait of Hormuz, is costing the EU around 500 million euros ($600 million) a day, driving up prices at the pumps and raising fears of an explosion. jet fuel shortage within weeks.
Von der Leyen said the world’s largest trading bloc should learn from what happened 2022 fuel crisis – Russia used its energy power against European countries, weakening their support for Ukraine – to prevent further damage to their economies.
“More than 350 billion euros have been spent on untargeted measures, and this has had a huge impact on the finances of member states,” he told EU lawmakers in Strasbourg, France. “So let’s not make the same mistake again and focus our support where it matters most.”
Von der Leyen said that just as Europe eliminated its energy dependence on Russia, the bloc should also end its dependence on resources from the outside world by making better use of renewable resources such as wind and solar, as well as nuclear energy.
“Our over-reliance on imported fossil fuels makes us vulnerable,” he said.
Since the war began in 2022, Russia’s gas imports to 27 countries have fallen from 45 percent to 12 percent last year. Coal imports were banned by sanctions, and oil imports fell from 27% to 2% in 2022, with Hungary and Slovakia alone. I keep buying from Russia.
Von der Leyen said the impact of the Iran war “could reverberate for months or even years” and that the path to energy independence lies through “domestic, affordable, clean energy supplies, from renewable sources to nuclear.”
He called on EU countries to use more electricity produced from renewable and nuclear sources to power transport and aircraft, heat homes and reduce dependence on fossil fuels in industry.
Electricity accounts for less than a quarter of the bloc’s energy consumption.
EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen warned last week that the Iran war is not just about a small, short-term rise in prices. “This is probably as serious a crisis as the 1973 and 2022 crises combined.”
He said Europe was forced to become defensive and had little control over events.
“Even in the best-case scenario, the situation is still bad,” Jørgensen said. “Whether we will enter a security of supply crisis is primarily a result of what is happening in the Middle East. What we can do is prevent and limit the damage.”
