European Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen has insisted that accelerating renewable energy deployment is the only sustainable path out of the continent’s deepening energy crisis.
His comments come amid soaring prices triggered by the US-Israeli war with Iran and the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
He reiterated the European Union’s firm commitment to ending all Russian energy imports, declaring Europe should not import “one molecule” of Russian fossil fuels.
Speaking to the media ahead of an EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting today, Jørgensen emphasised that the EU must resist any temptation to revert to Russian supplies despite offers from Moscow and pressure from rising costs.
He said there was not really a problem of supply but of high energy prices in the global market.
The EU does not depend “so much on the supply of fuel, both gas and oil, coming from the area so we do not have a security problem, but we have a price problem”, he stressed.
He said Europe was in a much better situation than in 2022 because “we have more renewables in our system, because we diversified our supply in general in our energy system,” and that all this was the result of decisions made after the war in Ukraine broke out.
Jørgensen said Europe was, though, affected by the war in Iran and that it was important that “we stay on track and do whatever we can to deploy more renewables faster”.
He said the only way to get prices down in Europe was “more renewables” and that we “need times for permitting down” as quickly as possible while enhancing interconnectivity.
Prices for electricity in central Europe have skyrocketed to record highs, as German renewable sources fell short of meeting demand. https://t.co/jcEpCowksP
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) December 12, 2024
Asked if he agreed with Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever who said that, in the end, there will be a peace deal with Russia and that this will lead to new access to cheap Russian energy, Jørgensen was highly dismissive and called a return to Russian energy “a mistake”.
He noted that Europe has decided no longer to import Russian energy, even put a ban of Russian gas into law and that a ban of oil was also on the table.
“We cannot help indirectly financing Russia’s brutal, illegal war, and we have been far to long depended on energy from Russia, making it possible for Putin to blackmail us, with energy, making it possible for Putin of weaponising energy against us,” Jørgensen said.
He said the EU was determined to stay on course.
In Belgium, the President of the Flemish socialist Vooruit party, Conner Rousseau, said normalising relationships with Russia was impossible, because President Vladimir Putin was “untrustworthy”.
“The Prime Minister can say whatever he likes in his own name but he cannot speak on behalf of the government and claim that we now suddenly want to beg Putin for cheap energy,” Rousseau told VTM NIEUWS.
The European Union has unrealistic goals for renewable hydrogen energy, despite close to €20 billion in funding, the EU’s financial watchdog has said. https://t.co/X6L96XfPTW
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) July 17, 2024
