Senior EU leaders are urging Europeans to cut their energy usage to help the bloc survive the ongoing oil crisis caused by Iran.
Speaking on April 13, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen confirmed she would present member-state leaders with a range of policy measures in the coming weeks aimed at curbing the impact of the ongoing energy crisis.
These will include various ways of reducing overall energy demand on the continent.
“The least expensive energy is of course the energy we do not use,” von der Leyen told reporters.
She added that while Brussels should try to respect “the free choice of consumers”, such cuts to usage are now necessary, with concrete details to be ready for review by the end of next week.
Despite the ongoing blockage of the Strait of Hormuz resulting in spiking petrol prices and limited energy rationing in some European nations, von der Leyen insisted that the Iran crisis was evidence that Brussels’ green policies are working as intended.
“Our strategy to decarbonise has not only been confirmed in the last years but is growing in importance day by day,” she said.
The Commission leader added that nuclear would need to play a serious role in Europe’s energy strategy going forward, hailing Small Modular Reactors (SMR) technology as presenting a unique opportunity to accelerate grid resilience.
This is despite her nation-state political party in Germany, the Christian Democratic Union, confirming recently that Germany would not return to nuclear power following the demolition of the country’s facilities at the hands of the previous Green government.
“The decision is irreversible. I regret that, but it is what it is,” Merz said earlier this year.
Under von der Leyen, Europe has been struggling to maintain a stable and affordable supply of energy, with the Commission president’s push for renewables and energy storage facilities having so far failed to keep costs down for either citizens or businesses.
This situation has only gotten more perilous since the beginning of Russia’s renewed invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with the EU’s long-criticised reliance on natural gas sold by Moscow resulting in the bloc being caught flat-footed.
Heavy industry inside the bloc has proven particularly vulnerable to such policy failures, with Germany in particular in a state of deindustrialisation as companies either shut their doors or move their manufacturing elsewhere.
As the situation worsens, many young people in the country are now actively planning to emigrate, with one report indicating that one in five aged between 14 and 29 have concrete plans to leave for greener pastures.