The European Union is concerned about increasing energy poverty in the Member States. According to European Commissioner Nicolas Schmit of Employment and Social Rights, millions of people are already paying so much for energy that they fall below the poverty line. He fears that number will increase.
The prices of oil and gas have risen sharply in recent months, causing the energy bills of people, and also companies, to rise sharply. According to Schmit, the European Union can help, but it is mainly the individual member states that must support citizens in the short term.
Energy issue on EU agenda next week
High energy prices are on the agenda of the European leaders’ meeting next Thursday and Friday. Earlier, the EU already came up with a ‘toolbox’ with support measures that individual countries can take. Many countries have now announced measures to accommodate people and companies.
In the Netherlands the cabinet decided on Friday to allocate about 3 billion euros for this. The largest part is used to reduce the energy tax on gas and electricity. In addition, money will be made available for insulating homes, so that people receive lower heating costs.
greening
In a European context, consideration is being given to measures to prevent price fluctuations in the longer term, such as joint purchasing of energy. Furthermore, the idea is to accelerate the transition to more sustainable energy, so that European countries become less dependent on oil and gas. The European Investment Bank should make capital available for this. The EU sees faster greening as the best way to avoid price volatility of fossil fuels.
After the European leaders’ meeting at the end of this week, there will be a meeting of the responsible ministers of the EU countries on 26 October to take decisions.
–
