Gozi: Europe should respond in unified manner to energy crisis

Europe must respond in a unified manner to the energy crisis now hitting unevenly EU Member States, EDP Secretary General Sandro Gozi said this week.

Addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, Gozi urged that “Europe must make Europe”, and that time was ticking and people in Europe need answers fast. He said: “Vetoes, slowdowns and leaks going forward are neither understandable nor acceptable for European families and businesses that can’t wait any longer”.

Gozi (France, EDP party, Renew Europe group) noted that since February, policymakers have been asking for a new European “solidarity action” for energy. That action would mean providing a compensation mechanism at European level for economies and companies most damaged by this crisis and by the “attacks by Russia on Ukraine and our democratic values.”

Policy to address the energy crunch must not only incorporate short-term solutions but also long term, he noted. President Von der Leyen’s proposal to extend the REPowerEU plan – the EU Commission scheme to make Europe independent from Russian fossil fuels well before 2030, in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – and to establish new common funds to defend EU member state economies “goes in the right direction in the short term”, he said. Common funds were employed for the pandemic crisis with the Recovery Plan as well as after Brexit, an event requiring financial support for the most damaged EU countries.

Gozi concluded his brief remarks by urging long-term action via a European strategic autonomy fund, concluding: “For the next few years, we will have to create a real European fund of strategic autonomy. We have the experience, we have the tools, we have seen that they work, that they are able to protect and drive the economies of the whole European Union: what are we waiting for?”