€27bn bill and counting: von der Leyen urges EU to learn energy lessons from Iran war
· EUobserver‘This is the second energy crisis within four years, and the lesson should be very clear. Our overdependency on imported fossil fuels makes us vulnerable’, the EU Commission chief told MEPs
€27bn bill and counting: von der Leyen urges EU to learn energy lessons from Iran war
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By Benjamin Fox,
Nairobi
,
Disruption to oil and gas supply caused by the US-Israeli war against Iran has left the EU facing an additional energy bill of €27bn, after just two months of conflict, EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has said.
Addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday (29 April), von der Leyen urged member states to quickly diversify their own energy mixes, particularly in the event of a prolonged conflict and blockades to the Strait of Hormuz.
“This is the second energy crisis within four years, and the lesson should be very clear. Our overdependency on imported fossil fuels makes us vulnerable,” the commission chief told MEPs.
“We must reduce our overdependency on imported fossil fuels, and we must boost our homegrown, affordable, clean energy supply from renewables to nuclear in full respect of technology neutrality,” she said.
Earlier this month, von der Leyen said that €500m per day was the extra cost of the Iran war to the EU’s energy bill.
EU leaders are anxious to stave off the threat of a recession caused by higher energy prices and broader trade disruption, with access to fertilisers another major pressure point.
Morocco’s state-owned fertiliser giant OCP is positioning itself as an alternative supplier to Europe.
OCP is lobbying EU officials to soften the rules in the bloc’s Fertilisers Regulation and encourage imports of its fertiliser in the commission’s upcoming Action Plan on fertilisers, which is set to be published in the coming days.
Last week, it announced that it had raised $1.5bn [€1.28bn] through its first international hybrid bond, as it seeks to ramp up production to take advantage of the war.
Earlier on Wednesday, the commission unveiled plans to subsidise up to 70 percent of the extra cost of fuel caused by the Iran war for farmers, fishers and road hauliers.
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‘This is the second energy crisis within four years, and the lesson should be very clear. Our overdependency on imported fossil fuels makes us vulnerable’, the EU Commission chief told MEPs
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Author Bio
Benjamin Fox is our trade and geopolitics editor. His reporting has also been published in the Guardian, the East African, Euractiv, Private Eye and Africa Confidential, among others. He is based in Nairobi, Kenya, although he often reports from London.