Monitoring the EU's extraordinary measures and resilience in the field of energy

Background

The Russian aggression against Ukraine has deeply altered the global energy system, pushed up energy prices, increased energy safety concerns, and revealed the excessive dependence of the EU on Russian gas, oil and coal.

The extraordinary measures adopted by the EU have proven to be effective in diversifying EU fossil fuel sources and moving away from Russian fossil fuels, but less effective when it comes to tackling energy bills. Furthermore, the impact of high gas and electricity prices has mainly impacted industrial energy demand and low-income households, which are more vulnerable to volatile market prices.

In order to guarantee the welfare of citizens and create jobs, the EU has to rethink its approach towards the suppliers of strategic resources, go back to the internal market and strengthen the European industry based on critical resources.

Key points

According to the EESC:

• Uniform measures among the Member States should be adopted to ensure a level playing-field, except in those aspects relating to essential facilities or infrastructure.

• EU policy must reinforce its long-term vision for achieving the green and digital transition with a strong commitment to avoiding leaving people behind, going beyond the adoption of temporary measures. Stable and predictable remuneration schemes for renewables must therefore be geared towards real long-term production costs and be decoupled from fossil fuel prices.

•  It is important to accelerate the large-scale deployment of carbon-free energy sources by simplifying permitting processes to make it possible to rapidly replace dependency on third-party fossil fuels, comply with climate change commitments, and enhance competitiveness.

Additional information

Section: Transport, Energy, Infrastructure and the Information Society (TEN)

Opinion number: TEN/799

Opinion type: Exploratory opinion Presidency

Rapporteur: Andrés Barceló Delgado (Employers - Group I / Spain)

Date of adoption by section: 16 May 2023

Result of the vote: 63 in favour, 1 against, 1 abstention

Date of adoption in plenary: 14-15 June 2023

Result of the vote: 198 in favour, 2 against, 5 abstentions

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