Debate: The REPowerEU Plan: European solidarity and energy security in face of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, including the recent cuts of gas supply to Poland and Bulgaria
Date: THURSDAY, 19 MAY 2022
Speaker: Kadri Simson
Language: EN

Three weeks ago, Russia cut gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria, making the threat of losing gas and fossil fuel supplies for the whole EU more tangible. This shows again that Russia is not a reliable trading partner. Yesterday, the Commission presented the REPowerEU plan to phase out Russian fossil fuels from our system and replace them with stable, affordable, clean energy. To open up the session, I will give you some concrete details included in the REPowerEU plan. First, I want to mention infrastructure. This is the time to implement many long—pending projects, with a particular focus on cross—border connections to build an integrated energy market that secures supply in a spirit of solidarity. The TEN-E has played, and will continue to play, an important role to achieve this goal. REPowerEU shows that it will be possible to fully compensate the equivalent of Russian gas imports by a combination of demand reduction and increase of domestic production of biogas, hydrogen and other renewables, and limited additions of infrastructure. Gas storage will be the key part of this plan. Just an hour ago, we achieved agreement between the co—legislators on the gas storage obligation proposal, and I am immensely grateful for the Members of Parliament and the French Presidency for a very constructive approach, because this crucial piece of legislation helps us to be better prepared for the situation where there will be full disruption of Russian gas flows. But of course we will also boost the transition to renewables and accelerate the European Green Deal. Until now, we have been climate leaders across the globe, but this shift in gear means we will be able to leapfrog even faster towards sustainability, energy independence and more local industry. To do this, we have proposed to increase the share of renewables in our energy mix to 45% by 2030.  To achieve this goal, we need unprecedented actions at unprecedented speed. That brings me to the elephant in the room: we have to make this process shorter, we have to streamline as much as possible. Of course, we can give recommendations to the Member States, but at this current geopolitical context, we need to do much more. Therefore, we propose to amend the Renewable Energy Directive to give Member States the right tools to significantly accelerate the permitting process. To do this, we introduce ‘go to’ areas, where permitting procedures would be done much faster, taking no more than one year. And let me be clear, this will not come at the expense of the environment. For solar energy deployment on existing building structures, we are proposing a three month permitting process. With the solar strategy proposed yesterday, we aim to double solar PV capacity by 2025 already. And to ensure the availability of the skilled workforce, we will establish EU large—scale skills partnership. We also want more of the solar panels to be manufactured here, in the EU, and we will launch the European Solar PV Industry Alliance to facilitate that. Of course, more efficient use of energy goes hand in hand with cheaper and renewable energy, and there is no cheaper and more secure energy than the one that we do not use. So, with today’s security concerns and energy prices, the case for investing in energy efficiency has never been stronger. While most of the Russian gas will be replaced by renewables and savings, 155 bcm of gas cannot be phased out overnight. In the earlier stages of the shift, we need to diversify supplies to make up this shortfall, and we will need to secure around 50 bcm of LNG and 10 bcm of additional pipeline gas annually from non—Russian sources. Intense work on this has been going on since last autumn, and they have yielded results. So April broke the monthly LNG deliveries record again with 12.6 bcm. Sustaining this level throughout the year would put us well on track to reach the additional 50 bcm. At the same time, pipeline gas supply from Russia went down to 26% of EU gas consumption last month, this April, compared to 40%, which was the level last year, last April. To maintain the momentum, we have set up the EU Energy Platform to aggregate the demand for those who want to join, to coordinate the use of infrastructure, and reach out to our global partners both for gas and hydrogen. The first regional task force was set up in Sofia on 5 May, and others will follow. As a strong signal of support to our close neighbours, the Platform will also be open to Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and the Western Balkan countries. After joint statements with the United States and Canada, the work continues to reach political agreement for LNG deliveries also with other partners. Speaking of our international partners, yesterday we also adopted our new External Energy Strategy. Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has had the unintended consequence of deeper cooperation between the EU and our partners. We intend to build long—term energy partnerships that go beyond the immediate energy security needs, for example, by extending cooperation on gas to renewable hydrogen or tackling methane emissions. As we wean ourselves off Russian imports, we want to avoid simply creating another dependency elsewhere. So we will continue to establish partnerships on critical raw materials. The Strategy also renews our commitment to Ukraine and other close neighbours closely affected by that war. We will continue to provide energy supplies and work towards making electricity trade with Ukraine possible in the near future. The Commission will also launch the REPowerUkraine Initiative to rebuild a clean and modern energy system after the war. Ladies and gentlemen, all these different strands of our work in the end reach the same destination. It is clear that the green transition is the only way to be the masters of the EU energy system, and to provide secure, sustainable and affordable energy for the EU and the world. This remains our ultimate goal. Given the urgency and unpredictability of current events, we would need to move quickly to through the co—legislative process, and I’m counting on your support to move this proposal forward. Thank you for your attention, and I am looking forward to the questions.