(PatrioticPost.com)- On Wednesday, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, suggested that the European Union may regulate energy usage and divide profits from fossil fuel firms.
In response to the West’s backing for Ukraine, Russia halted natural gas shipments through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. The union is presently considering a number of measures to assist member states in coping with this situation. Von der Leyen claimed that Russia is primarily to blame for the energy problem in her State of the Union speech.
Von der Leyen stated that Russia keeps on actively influencing its energy market, highlighting the recent ten-fold surge in natural gas prices. “But Europeans are also facing this head-on with fortitude,” she said.
Many European nations have laws governing the use of appliances and thermostats. But von der Leyen declared that she would set guidelines for EU members to cut “total electricity consumption,” paid for by redistributing energy company profits.
She said they’re suggesting capping firms’ profits that generate electricity at a low cost. These businesses are generating revenue that they never anticipated. She said profits are good in our social market economy. It is unethical to profit from conflict and the consumer while making record profits. Profits must be distributed to those who need them.
Last year, 40% of the natural gas supplied to Europe came from Russian imports; this percentage has since decreased to 9%. Germany, the largest economy on the continent, has seen a decline in dependence from 55% to 35%.
According to von der Leyen, fossil fuel producers have a “particular duty” to help with the issue. Significant gas, coal, and oil businesses are also reaping enormous profits. Therefore, they must pay their fair share and make a crisis contribution.
The declared objective of the European Union is to achieve “a climate-neutral society” by 2050 under the European Green Deal and the Paris Climate Agreement.
Von der Leyen has called for an end to all reliance on fossil fuels. Despite this, the UK’s new Prime Minister Liz Truss, put out legislation to permit oil and gas drilling in the North Sea and the development of additional nuclear facilities.
