Renew Europe has called for the EU to cut its reliance on US energy supplies and speed up work on a more integrated European energy market, warning that Europe “can’t fully trust” US President Donald Trump to guarantee supplies next winter.
The centrist and liberal political group in the European Parliament announced on Thursday it had adopted a new paper setting out “two reasons” for energy independence from the United States: geopolitical instability that could mean higher prices or shortages, and the fact that US energy imports are “non-renewable and unsustainable.”
Brigitte van den Berg of the Netherlands’ D66 party and Emma Wiesner of Sweden’s Centerpartiet were named as the lead MEPs on energy and co-author of the paper.
Energy prices were “hitting households” and making products more expensive, while “energy intensive industries are closing down”, van den Berg said.
Calls for grids, tax changes and simpler rules
Renew Europe said Europe still spends “over €350 billion” each year importing fossil fuels, with that money flowing out of the economy instead of being invested in renewables, electricity grids and clean technologies, according to a statement from Christophe Grudler, the group’s coordinator on the European Parliament’s industry, research and energy committee.
The group’s paper backs “electrification” — using electricity in place of fossil fuels — alongside “smarter taxation” and financial incentives for consumers, Grudler said.
Among its priorities, Renew Europe called for increased investment in clean energy production and an end to “buying fossil fuels from abroad.”
It also called for building “one interconnected European grid”, including cross-border links known as interconnectors, and for expanding and modernising grids as well as rolling out smart grids and storage technologies.
The Renew Europe group further insisted on streamlining energy taxes and levies across the EU, citing the difficulty for companies of working across 27 national frameworks, and said it wanted simpler single market rules including harmonised methods for calculating grid tariffs.
