The Commission’s directives would enshrine in EU regulation solar and wind energy projects as worthy of “overriding public interest” status. Being overridden is exactly what rural communities fear.
In Seville, one of the hottest and most touristic cities in the country, restaurant and shop owners have come out in full rebellion against the measure, calling it one more step in undermining small businesses.
With more than half of its nuclear power plants undergoing maintenance, France seems woefully underprepared to meet increased power demands in winter, which might make Paris the first major European capital this winter to experience blackouts.
It is unclear if Sánchez wants to turn his anti-tie appeal into a nation-wide campaign, and whether Spaniards will be asked to forego other energy-depleting lifestyle choices.
At their July 26th meeting, energy ministers rejected the Commission’s initial plan for emergency powers but committed to reducing gas usage by 15% between 1 August 2022 and 31 March 2023—at least they did in theory.
Germany’s excessive energy dependence on Russia is not the outcome of a natural process, but rather the consequence of policies that have been irresponsibly made and artificially imposed.
Frans Timmermans, the executive vice-president of the European Commission, said that making people suffer this winter in order to stay on track with the energy transition would ultimately be disastrous for solving ‘the climate crisis.’
The EU Commission did not initially propose a block-wide policy, but two months later, both the commission and the new Czechia presidency are ready to consider options for an EU-wide windfall tax strategy.
OPEC’s Secretary General, without executive power in the strict sense, usually plays a decisive diplomatic role in facilitating discussions between producer countries with often divergent interests.
A fire in one of America’s largest LNG export terminals has caused European gas prices to rise even further. The reduced export capacity adds to the pressure of securing enough gas reserves to last the winter.
While the struggle to gain independence of Russian gas is causing European environmentalists to compromise their transformation process to renewable energies, China just launched its first dual-fuel hybrid tanker.
With German gas reserves at a precariously low level for winter, Germany has decided to continue shunning nuclear energy, and has opted to reactivate coal plants.
After the war in Ukraine started, G7 leaders have been fixated on getting oil and gas from anywhere but Russia. This might prove more trying than expected.
Weak armies, illegal immigration, debt, energy dependence, and unbalanced trade are all undermining the European nation-state, argues Juan Ángel Soto Gómez.
The Orbán cabinet has put in place the means for Hungary to be independent from Russian natural gas. In the course of 12 years, it built links to all possible alternative energy sources; the fact that a number of them are inoperable is due to other countries.
In Western Europe, meanwhile, our globalized, post-national era of peace and prosperity has wrought decadence and complacency. It has erased from the national consciousness the blood and tears needed to get independence and to keep it.
Italy’s energy infrastructure is not only relevant to its domestic consumption, but to all of Europe, being a key potential entry-point for the EU to receive north African energy, including hydrogen.
Austria’s federal government has announced relief for Austrians suffering from inflation and rising energy prices. Opponents criticize the package as “a drop in the bucket.”
Even before the completion of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, German energy prices have gone through the roof due to the uncompromising switch to renewable energies. Combined with the looming threat of inflation, prices for energy imports have increased at a rate unseen since the 1970s.
While the German government continues its move towards renewable energies, a recent report shows that the danger of a large-scale blackout is not only greater than ever, but that the German public is completely unprepared to deal with such a scenario.
The issue of tense relations with Armenia does not seem to be at the heart of the European negotiations. Energy imperatives take priority, and the destruction of Armenian cultural and religious heritage in Artsakh continues without major international reaction.
This energy deal, however, will provide only a relative improvement, increasing energy availability from two to four daily hours per day in the coming months.
Many EU countries support a green designation for nuclear power. France has made nuclear energy the pillar of carbon-neutral energy production, and Czechia and Hungary also rely heavily on nuclear energy. Germany opposes this, but approves of a green label for natural gas as a transition energy.
The U.S. says a deal has been reached with Germany to prevent Russian gas from being used as political leverage by Moscow over Europe in the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, EUobserver reports. The near-complete 1,230 km (764 miles) pipeline under the Baltic Sea will double Russian gas exports to Germany. U.S. official Victoria Nuland […]
