BRUSSELS (AP) 鈥� European Union countries must funnel their energy aid chiefly to vulnerable households and industries or risk wasting billions of euros as the hits oil and gas prices, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned on Wednesday.
The U.S.-Israel war, combined with retaliation from Iran such as choking the Strait of Hormuz, is costing the EU almost 500 million euros ($600 million) a day, raising prices at the pumps and fears of a within weeks.
Von der Leyen said the world鈥檚 biggest trading bloc must draw on the lessons of the 鈥� when Russia used its energy might against European countries to undermine their support for Ukraine 鈥� to avoid further hurting their economies.
More than 350 billion euros 鈥渨ere spent on untargeted measures and this had a huge impact on member states finances,鈥� she told EU lawmakers in Strasbourg, France. 鈥淪o let us not make the same mistake again, and let鈥檚 focus our support where it matters most.鈥�
Just as Europe broke its energy dependency on Russia, the bloc must now end its reliance on supplies from the outside world, by making better use of renewable sources like wind and solar, as well as nuclear power, von der Leyen said.
鈥淥ur over dependency on imported fossil fuels makes us vulnerable,鈥� she said.
Since the war started in 2022, Russian gas imports into the 27 nations have fallen from 45% to 12% last year. Coal imports were banned by sanctions, and oil imports shrank from 27% 2022 to 2%, with only Hungary and Slovakia from Russia.
Von der Leyen said the impact of the Iran war 鈥渕ay echo for months or even years to come鈥� and that the path to energy independence lies in 鈥渉omegrown, affordable, clean energy supply from renewables to nuclear.鈥�
She urged EU countries to use more electricity generated by renewable sources and nuclear sources to power transport and planes, heat homes, and undercut the dependency on fossil fuels in industry.
Electricity makes up less than a quarter of the bloc鈥檚 energy consumption.
EU Energy Commissioner Dan J酶rgensen warned last week that the Iran war has not just produced 鈥渁 short-term, small increase in prices. This is a crisis that is probably as serious as the 1973 and the 2022 crises combined.鈥�
He said Europe has been forced onto the defensive and has little control over events.
鈥淓ven in a best-case scenario, it鈥檚 still bad,鈥� J酶rgensen said. 鈥淲hether or not we will be in a security of supply crisis is primarily a result of what goes on in the Middle East. What we can do is to try and prevent, and limit鈥� the damage.
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