EU Warns of Painful Winter Amid High Energy Prices

European Union Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen told reporters in Dublin that the bloc is not on the brink of an energy-supply crisis, but that soaring prices could strain households unable to afford heating or travel to work. He noted that nearly 50 million Europeans already struggle to keep homes warm in a normal winter, highlighting the social risk of another price shock.

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• Dan Jørgensen – EU Energy Commissioner, leading the Commission’s response to high prices.

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• Fatih Birol – Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (International Energy Agency's (IEA)), present at the Dublin meeting.

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• Emmanuel Macron – President of France, who asked for a temporary relaxation of fuel rules to boost diesel production.

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Jørgensen welcomed Macron’s request to ease fuel regulations for refineries and said the Commission will delay by one year the enforcement of parts of the EU methane-import rules to ease market pressure while preserving climate goals. He also confirmed that the EU will not introduce a bloc-wide windfall tax, leaving tax measures to national governments. Birol indicated that about 20 % of the EU’s strategic gas stocks have been released, leaving roughly 80 % available should supply disruptions worsen. He stressed the importance of cooperation with gas exporters such as Norway, Canada and Nigeria.

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• Nearly 50 million Europeans lack adequate winter heating.

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• 20 % of strategic gas reserves already drawn; 80 % remain.

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• EU gas-storage target lowered to 80 % from 90 %, but compliance is still required.

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Jørgensen and Birol warned that high electricity taxes relative to gas could discourage the shift to electric heating. They urged governments to keep electricity affordable and to apply any fossil-fuel subsidies in a targeted, temporary manner to avoid undermining the green transition.

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• “We are looking into all ideas of how we can make rules more flexible, be more efficient in our implementation, do what we can, both on the supply and the demand side,” — Dan Jørgensen, union energy commissioner

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• “We stick to the objectives, we stick to our ambitions, but I'm proposing now that we take part of it, the parts that are connected to imports, and postpone the set and force date by one year,” — Dan Jørgensen, union energy commissioner

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