Speaking to MEPs of the European Parliament’s Committees on Industry Research and Energy (ITRE) and on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL), on Tuesday 5 November, the influential Dan Jørgensen, a former S&D MEP, tried to prove that he was up to the dual role of Commissioner-designate for Energy and Housing assigned to him by the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen.
Hailed by several MEPs for his expertise, this former vice-chair of the Committee on Environment managed to juggle questions relating to the future of the EU’s energy policy and competitiveness issues, as well as concerns about access to “energy-efficient” housing.
Nuclear. Some MEPs were waiting to catch Dan Jørgensen out on his commitment to acknowledging and integrating nuclear energy into the EU legislative framework (see EUROPE 13507/5). The Danish Socialist, currently Minister for Development Cooperation and Global Climate Policy, is well known for his anti-nuclear stance in his country.
Drawing a distinction between his commitment to the people of Europe and his previous work in Denmark, Mr Jørgensen stated from the outset that “nuclear power is and will remain an integral part of the European energy mix”.
Referring to the IPCC scenarios, which take account of nuclear energy to limit global warming to 1.5°C, the Commissioner-designate acknowledged that “we won’t be able to achieve our objectives in Europe without nuclear power”.
However, in response to questions on funding from Christophe Grudler (Renew Europe, French) and Ondřej Krutílek (ECR, Czech), Mr Jørgensen said that he could not “promise” a European nuclear fund and felt, in particular, that it was not up to the EU “to finance, for example, the construction of a nuclear power plant”.
He did, however, recognise the need for European funding for research and training, and gave assurances that nuclear energy would be included in the forthcoming ‘Industrial Plan for Clean Energy’, but also that he would work on updating the Nuclear Illustrative Programme or PINC.
On the subject of small modular reactors (SMRs), Mr Jørgensen supported the work of the SMR Alliance and reiterated the European Commission’s desire to see the first examples emerging in the early 2030s.
Affordable prices. Acknowledging the difficulties for European companies in remaining competitive with US and Chinese competitors, which pay two to three times less for their energy, Mr Jørgensen reiterated his commitment to implementing an action plan for affordable energy prices at the start of his mandate.
Referring to the ‘Draghi’ report (see EUROPE 13484/7), the Dane called for rapid implementation of the provisions of the recent organisational reform of the European electricity market (see EUROPE 13454/27), without introducing new rules before the existing reform has been completed.
He also recognised the urgent need to invest in energy infrastructure and electricity networks to ensure the EU’s competitiveness.
Definitive exit from Russian fossil fuels. Asked about the EU’s continuing dependence on fuel from Russia, the Commissioner-designate said that “if we could be independent of Russian gas tomorrow, we would be”, but could not commit to an exit date.
However, he reiterated his intention to present a roadmap for achieving this as quickly as possible in early 2025 (see EUROPE 13506/12).
At the end of his hearing, the Dane also reiterated his commitment to supporting Ukraine this winter, as the country has been the victim of repeated attacks on its energy system (see EUROPE 13486/1).
Hydrogen and geothermal energy. Asked about his commitment to hydrogen, the Commissioner-designate acknowledged the importance of its use to reduce emissions from high-emission industries, but also to benefit the transport sector and store energy.
He nevertheless stressed that the EU was still a long way from its production and demand targets, arguing that State aid and EU funding “could also be part of the answer”.
In response to a question from Marina Mesure (The Left, French), the Socialist then undertook to present a strategy for geothermal energy, recognising its untapped potential.
Housing. Thanking MEPs, in particular his Social Democrat family, for having pushed for the appointment of a European Commissioner responsible for housing issues, Mr Jørgensen recalled the existence of a housing crisis in the EU, where 8.9 million citizens spend more than 40% of their income on housing.
He stressed the importance of taking action in this area at European level, even if the European level will mainly be used to support initiatives taken at national level (see EUROPE 13472/3).
In his introductory remarks, the former Danish minister echoed the announcements of the re-elected President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen (see EUROPE 13456/1), proposing “a European plan for affordable housing” which will include the following elements: - a strategy for the construction of affordable housing; - a pan-European investment platform in collaboration with the EIB; - efforts to retrain and improve the skills of workers in the construction sector; - efforts to facilitate the sharing of experience; - the doubling of funding under European cohesion policy; - a reform of the State aid framework to facilitate the construction of affordable housing and energy efficiency measures in the Member States.
However, when questioned by Brigitte Van den Berg (Renew Europe, Dutch), Mr Jørgensen did not promise that the reform of State aid would take place as early as 2025. Asked by Leïla Chaibi (The Left, French) whether the Commission was going to abandon the “dogma” of competition, which is holding back the construction of affordable housing, he reiterated the importance of regulating State aid within the Internal market, while pointing out the need to “strike a balance” in order to meet the political objectives set.
AirBnB. With regard to the issue of short-term tourist accommodation, which sometimes squeezes some local residents out of the rental market, the Commissioner-designate pointed out that EU legislation would apply from 2026, in particular to oblige digital platforms to inform the public authorities of their activities for tax and other purposes (see EUROPE 13294/8).
“I’m not convinced that’s enough”, he admitted, without elaborating on his opinion.
When asked by Maravillas Abadía Jover (EPP, Spanish) about possible measures to help landlords deal with unpaid rent and abusive occupation of housing, the former MEP, again seeking a balance, did not deny that landlords could assert their rights, but pointed out that this situation could also be explained by the fact that tenants sometimes have no other choice to avoid being on the streets.
Finally, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (EPP, Irish) questioned him on the European target of eradicating homelessness by 2030, which is not included in his mission statement. “We’re not on track”, he unfortunately acknowledged, noting the good results achieved by the dedicated European platform, particularly in Finland. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion and Pauline Denys)