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Europe’s energy chief, Dan Jørgensen, laid bare the realities of the conflict and how it will impact Europeans’ wallets after presenting a highly anticipated suite of measures aimed at blunting the financial impact of the Iran war across Europe.
“We are in the middle of a very bad crisis right now,” Jørgensen told Euronews on the sidelines of the presentation, announced alongside Executive Vice-President for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition, Teresa Ribera.
“I do have to be quite blunt and say that we are looking into some very difficult months and even years, because even if there’s a peace tomorrow, to rebuild the gas infrastructure, for instance, in Qatar will take maybe years,” he said, adding, “Prices will not stabilise at the level they were before this crisis.”
Two months of turmoil in the Middle East have cost the continent an extra €24 billion in additional energy costs, totalling an eye-watering €5 million per day, according to European Commission data.
To cushion the blow, the EU executive announced on Wednesday a package of initiatives aimed at supporting European citizens, businesses, and sectors.
The European Commission is urging EU governments to provide energy vouchers, income support, and social tariffs to support vulnerable Europeans amid what has been dubbed the world’s worst energy crisis.
The proposal did not include any initiatives mandating EU member states to encourage a one-day work-from-home policy or taxes on windfall profits — extraordinary profits earned by companies due to unexpected circumstances.
“The windfall tax is certainly something that member states can choose to introduce at a national level, and if they choose that, we will also help facilitate and advise, drawing on some of the experiences, both the good ones and the bad ones, from 2022,” Jørgensen said.
EU’s €90 billion loan for Ukraine inches towards reality
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Tuesday that the Druzhba oil pipeline in the war-torn country has been repaired and could resume operations imminently.
The announcement ended months of back-and-forth discussion between the now-outgoing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and EU leaders regarding Kyiv’s €90 billion lifeline.
Orbán has repeatedly blocked the flow of cash due to the damaged energy infrastructure, stating it had been prevented from distributing Russian oil via Ukraine due to “political” reasons.
Commissioner Jørgensen told Euronews’ Europe Today programme he hoped the situation could be resolved “as soon as possible” so the country can continue fending off Russian aggression, now grinding into its fifth year.
“In my own portfolio, I can say that working with Ukraine on helping to rebuild the energy sector is quite heartbreaking work because the Russians are brutally bombing the energy infrastructure of Ukraine,” he said.
“They’ve (Ukraine) done so through the very cold winter. People have been freezing, people have been without electricity, and obviously, it’s an expensive endeavour to rebuild.”