AFP
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NOS News•today, 17:16
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It is not clear how the European Union will finance the scaling back of Russian gas in the coming years. In an opinion piece, the European Court of Auditors strongly criticizes the EU’s plan to become less dependent on Russian gas in the long term.
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In May, the European Commission presented REPowerEU: an ambitious plan to phase out Russian gas in the coming years. The aim is to stop importing gas from Russia at all by 2027.
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With the plan, the EU wants, among other things, to look for gas suppliers and to switch more quickly to sustainable energy. The plan is very extensive and will cost an estimated 210 billion euros in the coming years.
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Borrow billions
The Court of Auditors has the most objections to the financing of the plan. Only EUR 20 billion comes from the Commission. The remaining 190 billion euros must come from the EU Member States. For example, countries can borrow money from the corona recovery fund or get money from other EU funds, but that is not good, according to the Court of Audit.
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For example, it is not certain whether countries will actually want to borrow that much money. In addition, the corona recovery fund is divided on the basis of which countries have been hit hardest by the corona pandemic. These are not necessarily the same countries that are most dependent on Russian gas. Spain, for example, receives a relatively large amount of money from the corona recovery fund, but does not use Russian gas at all.
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Another problem is that countries can now often decide for themselves how to get rid of Russian gas. The European Court of Auditors warns that national priorities may outweigh the common European interests here.
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The European Parliament and the European Council have asked the Court of Auditors to look at the Commission’s plans. The aim is for the criticism to be included in the discussion about the Commission’s energy plan.
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