[ad_1]
The European Union is within the grip of a “rising fuel disaster” aggravated by its dependency on Russia, Brussels will warn, because it makes an extra push for vitality financial savings and a change to renewable energy.
Based on a draft paper on EU vitality costs, which is because of be printed on Tuesday, and which has been seen by the Guardian:
Fuel and electrical energy costs will stay excessive and risky till at the least 2023. In comparison with the outlook of final autumn, the state of affairs has deteriorated.
Together with the remainder of the world, the EU has been grappling with hovering vitality costs for months, however Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has provoked soul looking out about Europe’s fuel dependency.
The union imports 40% of its fuel from Russia, a determine unchanged in additional than 15 years regardless of repeated fuel crises triggered by Moscow reducing off provides.
The coverage paper additionally confirms that EU competitors authorities are investigating the Russian state vitality firm Gazprom for its “uncommon enterprise behaviour”. The Russian firm’s EU storage services are solely 16% full, in contrast with 44% for non-Gazprom storage, elevating suspicions that the Kremlin is utilizing fuel as a geopolitical device.
The paper states:
The fee is presently investigating as a matter of precedence all allegations of potential anti-competitive industrial conduct by Gazprom and gathering further data from related market gamers.
The draft, from final week, makes no touch upon extending EU sanctions to Russian oil. On Sunday, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, mentioned Washington was “in very energetic discussions” with European allies a couple of Russian oil ban.
The fee makes a collection of suggestions, together with calling for a speedy settlement on EU vitality effectivity legal guidelines, estimated to end in 17bn cubic metres (bcm) of vitality financial savings by 2025, a part of the EU’s inexperienced deal plan.
The European Fee additionally desires extra EU funds for brand new photo voltaic applied sciences, whereas member states are urged to make use of revenues from the EU’s carbon buying and selling scheme to fund the change to renewable vitality.
EU imports of liquefied pure fuel hit almost 10 bcm in January, the highest-ever month-to-month stage, because the union sought alternate options to Russian fuel within the buildup to Vladimir Putin’s assault on Ukraine.
The fee says it plans to carry talks with different main LNG consumers, specifically China, Japan, South Korea and India, “with a view to avoiding conflictual market practices sooner or later, which increase the value of vitality provides for all”.
Individually, the European Fee president, Ursula von der Leyen, mentioned the EU was engaged on a package deal of additional sanctions towards Russia in response to the “Kremlin’s recklessness in the direction of residents”.
Talking alongside the Italian prime minister, Mario Draghi, she mentioned:
We will probably be discussing the brand new enforcement package deal which we’re engaged on proper now … We now have to ensure that there aren’t any loopholes and that the impact of sanctions is actually maximised.
In view of the evolution of the state of affairs in Ukraine, the Kremlin’s recklessness in the direction of residents: ladies, youngsters, males, we’re in fact additionally engaged on additional sanctions that may be warranted.
She didn’t elaborate on these particulars, however went on to say the EU should “do away with the dependency on Russian fuel, oil and coal”.
[ad_2]
Source link