Brief: Emergency EU Energy Measures
The energy crisis continues to hammer away at our wallets, but the European Council thinks it may have a solution to save our bank accounts.
The Brief is your breakdown of the ongoing events and crises happening in Europe, with a slightly more technical spin to satisfy your intellectual demands, curiosities, and interests.
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This week saw two big European events happening in Prague.
First, the inaugural European Political Community summit, which will (hopefully) provide a strong tool and forum for increasing pan-European cooperation on topics of political, economic, and international important.
Following this, there was an informal EU Council meeting, where the Heads of Governments came together to discuss emergency measures to reduce energy prices across the EU.
Let’s break down what they discussed
Background
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, energy prices across the EU increased rapidly due to a combination of geopolitical blackmail, sabotage of oil and gas delivery systems, and a general lack of supply to replace Russian sources
Due to this, consumer electricity prices are currently 35% higher than last year on average
Due to this, the EU have put forward three measures to cut down energy bills across the EU
Reducing electricity use
Capping revenues of electricity producers
A solidarity contribution from fossil fuel businesse
Reducing electricity use
One of the big points of government advice across Europe has been the need to reduce the use of energy across the board, and this is now being codified (to an extent) at the European level