In the light of worrying developments on the energy markets, in response to the conflict in the Middle East and the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz, the European Commissioner for Energy, Dan Jørgensen, categorically rejected any resumption of Russian fossil fuel imports on Monday 16 March.
“It would be a mistake for us to repeat what we did in the past. So therefore, the signal is very clear. In the future, we will not import as much as one molecule from Russia”, he insisted.
He was responding to a question about Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever’s comments in the Belgian daily L'Echo over the weekend, calling for “normalisation of relations with Russia” and “regaining access to cheap energy”.
In addition, on Friday 13 March, US President Donald Trump temporarily eased the sanctions preventing the delivery and sale of Russian crude oil transported by sea in order to mitigate soaring prices.
For a number of European energy ministers, such as Sweden’s Ebba Busch, going back on the EU’s decision to ban Russian fossil fuels for good would “cause us to lose our moral compass completely”.
Toolbox of “targeted temporary measures”. The ‘Energy’ Council meeting on Monday 16 March was aimed more broadly at preparing the discussion at Thursday’s European Summit on the competitiveness of energy prices in Europe. This exchange has now taken on a new dimension, with the fear of a major crisis in energy prices caused by tensions in the Middle East, following the American and Israeli attack on Iran launched on 28 February.
These latest developments were incorporated into the draft conclusions of the Summit on 13 March, with the European Council stressing “the need for a coordinated response” to the impact on energy prices.
It is expected to call on the European Commission to present “a toolbox” of “targeted temporary” measures to respond to the soaring prices of imported fossil fuels, “as a consequence of the crisis in the Middle East”.
This toolbox could be inspired by the emergency measures adopted in 2022, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, such as a market correction mechanism for gas prices.
In a speech to the European Parliament on 11 March, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, raised the possibility of “subsidising or capping the price of gas” (see EUROPE 13826/5).
“Prepare” and stay the course of a long-term strategy. As Commissioner Jørgensen pointed out, in the context of the war in the Middle East and the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz, through which over 20% of the world’s oil transits, the EU is not suffering from a supply problem, but from a price problem, “because when the world market prices go up, of course that also affects us”.
However, he considered it necessary to “prepare” for a potential escalation.
At a press conference, he declined to outline possible measures to support Member States in the face of further price spikes, but also insisted that any such actions should be “targeted”, “temporary” and “not compromise the EU’s longer-term strategic objectives”.
In particular, he said that the EU had an effective pricing mechanism (for electricity) and an effective Emissions Trading System (ETS), thereby closing the door on in-depth reform of these two systems.
The Commissioner also called for the “opportunity” of a new crisis to be seized to “stay the course” of the EU’s long-term strategy, including more clean, locally-produced energy and more interconnections (see other news).
To see the conclusions of the European Summit (dated 13 March): https://aeur.eu/f/l71 (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)