As part of the Salzburg Summit in Austria, devoted to Europe’s economic and technological transformation and working towards a more sustainable future in uncertain times, the European Commissioner for Budget, Johannes Hahn, spoke on Thursday 27 July about a series of challenges facing Europe, including its energy dependence.
The European Commissioner referred to the “triple comfort zone” in which Europe was indulging, without any real assessment of the political and economic risks. This triple comfort zone concerns the energy, security and technology sectors.
Johannes Hahn recalled the “dangerous addiction” of political and business leaders to Russian fossil fuels as a cheap source of energy.
“Today, we need to free ourselves from it, even if some countries are still very dependent on it. The way forward is diversification, without replacing cheap dependencies with expensive ones (LNG). At the same time, we need to accelerate our transition to more sustainable energy sources”, he said.
He mentioned the development of solar panels, wind turbines and energy-efficient buildings, which will help to ensure that “Europeans have access to cheaper, safer and cleaner energy”.
He went on to stress the importance of multilateralism and the need to deepen cooperation with other players in order to guarantee the EU’s strategic autonomy and competitiveness, and to be at the forefront of the green and digital transition.
To this end, he cited the example of the memorandums of understanding signed at the EU-CELAC Summit on 17 and 18 July with Argentina, Chile and Uruguay to join forces in their respective energy transitions (see EUROPE 13225/1).
“The other key question facing Europe is as simple as it is existential: do we want to be the first, or the second or third follower on the world stage?”, he asked in closing. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)