The European Commission proposes to skim the profits of electricity companies and gas suppliers. With those excess profits, the EU countries can financially help their residents pay sky-high energy bills. An additional European summit on this will be held at the end of this month.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in her annual State of the Union speech that energy companies are currently making mega profits from speculation in international energy markets as Russia manipulates the supply of oil and natural gas.
She pointed out that by shutting off the Nordstream 1 gas pipeline, Russia is using energy as a political weapon against European sanctions. The gas price was 40 euros per megawatt hour in the middle of last year and is now almost ten times more expensive in 2022.
It is up to the European Energy Ministers and government leaders to decide whether there will also be a maximum price for the purchase of gas and electricity. They must also decide whether the link between oil prices and gas prices is maintained.
Energy Commissioner Kadrie Simson said in a debate with the European Parliament yesterday that recent decisions by the European Union have already reduced gas demand by 10 percent. The EU countries are already importing more from the United States, and are negotiating with Israel, Egypt, Algeria and Azerbaijan.
Today Simson, together with Climate Commissioner Frans Timmermans, presents the details of the emergency intervention plan that will be discussed at a summit in Prague at the end of this month.
An important part of this will be that the EU countries will accelerate investment in renewable energy. In this way, the dependence on the import of Russian energy as well as on the depletion of environmentally-threatening fossil fuels can be reduced more quickly.