All eyes were on European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen today as she delivered her annual State of the Union speech. A year is a long time for international developments and the major issues of the day – Ukraine and energy – weren't even on the agenda last time.
But rather than ruminate on the erratic world of crisis management, the chief of the EU's legislative arm cut to the chase, making clear that Russia's aggression and the ensuing energy turmoil are different aspects of the same battle. And whilst the President briefly framed this as a battle of values – of "autocracy against democracy" – she quickly set aside the rhetoric of ideals and honed in on how to stand up to leviathan energy bills.
The main thrust of this entails decoupling gas and electricity prices. Until now, the cost of gas essentially dictated the cost of electricity in the hope that this would encourage a shift towards cheaper renewable energies. That policy stops working when you're in a trade war with your major gas supplier and don't yet have the renewable capacity to move en masse to green alternatives.
And though the President did express hopes for a large-scale uptake of hydrogen (something that Belgium is already angling for), this is still years from being a viable replacement for gas.
Consequently, the most tangible EU measure that can deliver immediate relief to Member States is a levy on excess profits of energy providers. This should bring €140 billion to help struggling households across the bloc.
Alexander De Croo has also pushed for EU price caps on gas prices, repeating that this is not something that can be done by individual Member States. On this front, the Belgian PM will be disappointed with von der Leyen only announcing a task force to work on the matter.
Households and businesses will be hoping for substantial measures soon, as the salad days of an exceptional summer seem to be over.
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