Europe's energy crisis: Ursula von der Leyen unveils five proposals to curb soaring prices

euronews.com:

Ursula von der Leyen has unveiled a series of long-awaited proposals to tackle the EU's worsening energy crisis and curb the soaring bills that are putting European households and companies under financial stress.

The European Commission president proposed an EU-wide plan to reduce electricity consumption, a price cap on the excess revenues made by renewables and nuclear energy, a solidarity mechanism to capture the "massive" and "unexpected" profits reaped by fossil fuel companies, and a state aid programme to inject extra liquidity into struggling utility businesses.

"The manipulation of the gas markets has a spill-over effect on the electricity market," von der Leyen said on Wednesday afternoon.

"We are confronted with astronomic electricity prices for households and companies and with enormous market volatility."

Von der Leyen also put forward a price cap on imports of Russian pipeline gas, which, if introduced, could push the Kremlin to retaliate and totally suspend gas flows.

"We must cut Russia's revenues which Putin uses to finance this atrocious war against Ukraine," she said.

Over the past few months, Gazprom has reduced the gas flow through its pipelines, shutting down Nord Stream 1 for an indefinite amount of time.

As a result, von der Leyen explained, the share of Russian pipeline gas in the EU's total imports has plunged from 40% before the war to 9% today. 

Norway, she said, has replaced Russia as the bloc's leading gas supplier.

The president added her services were also examining the possibility of a price cap on all imported gas, which would include liquefied natural gas (LNG), a commodity that has become key to diversifying away from Russia.

However, this far-reaching cap would not be tabled for the time being.

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