With energy price increases amidst Russia’s war on Ukraine, the EU must do everything in its power to ensure supply of affordable and clean energy. Europe must protect citizens, businesses and vulnerable households by aiding them in the energy crisis. We also need energy independence from Russia and reform of the energy market to secure the well-being of citizens and sustainability of the energy sector.

The Renew Europe Group in the European Parliament believes that we need to mitigate the impact of rising energy prices on European households and companies, boosting the market’s efficiency and competitiveness, while ensuring that European consumers can make affordable and more sustainable choices. At the same time, it is essential that EU Member States coordinate their actions to ensure that the integrity of the Single Market is not jeopardised.

Renew Europe has a sound plan to tackle the energy crisis, including measures such as:

• Windfall tax mechanism to redirect profits from big energy players to consumers and companies, especially small businesses
• Joint procurement of energy sources to strengthen EU bargaining power. This would allow exchanging surpluses and increasing solidarity between European nations
• A price cap on gas imports
• Speed up investments in renewable energy, energy efficiency and necessary infrastructure to achieve EU energy sovereignty, increase strategic autonomy and ensure energy security. Europe needs to secure at least 45% of renewables in the overall energy mix by the end of the decade and be the first continent to leave fossil fuels behind
• Reduce demand and improve energy efficiency. This will lower CO2 emissions, reducing demand for energy imports, and lowering the costs on a household and economy-wide level

Europe needs an Energy Union that is independent from Russian gas, oil and coal as soon as possible. This is necessary to avoid indirect financing of the war on Ukraine, but also to secure Europe’s energy supply and become more resilient to outside threats. Europe should achieve full security of energy supply, its diversification and independence, by working on both demand and supply, aiming at full independence from Russian fossil fuels no later than 2027.

Reforming the energy market and investing in renewable energy means new jobs for people and growth for the economy. Through this, Europe will be able to tackle the climate emergency while securing energy independence, providing clean and affordable energy to all citizens.

🚨 BREAKING: @Europarl_EN adopted our demands for more ambitious measures to tackle the energy crisis.

We call on EU leaders to heed Parliament’s proposals & choose 🇪🇺 solutions to support citizens & businesses! #EUCO

— Renew Europe (@RenewEurope) October 5, 2022