On Tuesday 18 October, the divide between the European Parliament’s political groups from the left and right reappeared during a debate on how to respond to the socio-economic repercussions in the European Union of Russia’s armed aggression in Ukraine.
On the left of the political spectrum, there are calls for decisive action at the European level to protect vulnerable citizens and businesses, including draining resources from companies profiting from the crisis.
Saying that “people should not have to choose between heating and eating”, S&D group chair Iratxe García Pérez from Spain lamented the lack of permanent fiscal capacity at the EU level. She called for the continuation of the SURE initiative to support national short-time working schemes, brought about to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as a one-off windfall tax on multinational companies,“not just energy companies”.
Her compatriot Ernest Urtasun (Greens/EFA) also agreed with her and called for “a moratorium on evictions” as winter approaches. As for Manon Aubry (The Left, French), echoing the social and trade union movements in France, she called for the requisition of shareholders, those “useless people (who) multiply dividends”. “The people of Europe are waiting for a price freeze on all basic necessities”, she added.
On behalf of the Czech Presidency of the EU Council, Deputy Prime Minister Ivan Bartoš recalled that, at the end of September, the Member States had agreed to cap the income of inframarginal electricity producers (including those using renewable energies) and to impose a temporary solidarity contribution on companies in the fossil fuel sector (see EUROPE 13033/1).
On the right of the political spectrum, the issues of redistribution of resources and the fight against growing inequalities at the European level are generally overlooked. Dragoș Pîslaru (Renew Europe, Romanian) agreed that the EU should act as a “shield” but to allow “micro-investments” in the energy transition of households and businesses.
Markus Ferber (EPP, German) criticised the European Commission for failing to tackle bureaucratic obstacles in its 2023 work programme put forward on Tuesday (see other news). Antonio Rinaldi (ID, Italian) and Zdzisław Krasnodębski (ECR, Polish) warned against unfair competition between the Member States without the same budgetary leeway to respond to the energy crisis, echoing Germany’s €200 billion aid package until 2024 (see EUROPE 13034/5). Gilbert Collard (non-attached Member, French) said that the EU brings only “nightmares, poverty and impotence”.
On the Commission side, Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis reiterated the budgetary position prevailing in the Eurogroup: emergency aid to citizens and businesses must remain “targeted and temporary and contain an incentive to reduce consumption” of energy, as opposed to generalised support that would further increase inflation and consumption. “Fiscal and monetary policies should not be in contradiction”, he said. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)