Coordination is also an issue. While groups are regularly convened to discuss supply issues, most real coordination takes place bilaterally between the Commission and countries, according to two energy officials involved in such discussions. It’s no surprise one energy minister in a meeting earlier this month went so far as to call for a WhatsApp group to share information about supplies, and that the EU is looking into reviving a controversial effort to coordinate gas purchases.
Earlier this week, the Netherlands went out on its own, launching emergency measures and announcing an additional release of oil stocks — bypassing the EU’s own glacial effort to coordinate the release.
The draft of Wednesday’s proposals still broadly hews to the line set out by the EU executive as the war got going, focusing on providing better incentives for the green transition, including reduced grid tariffs and murky commitments to mobilize green funding.
But these provisions have proved controversial, too, with some countries, especially in the rich North, arguing that expanding subsidies risks distorting the EU’s single market and undermining years of careful green investment planning. Others warn they don’t go far enough, leaving national capitals to handle the bulk of the response.
Vaičiūnas, the Lithuanian energy minister, applauded the EU’s decision to encourage countries to unleash new funds for the green transition, but expressed concern that smaller countries — and some debt-burdened bigger ones — would be unable to generate the financial firepower to make the most of relaxed rules.
“In principle, these exemptions make more freedom for member states, but the financial burden is on their shoulders,” he said, calling for EU-wide financial instruments, such as common debt, to supplement the regulatory changes and help countries finance heat pumps, batteries and electric vehicles.
To Vaičiūnas, finishing off Europe’s fossil fuel dependency is the only durable solution to the energy madness prompted by the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran — and there’s no quick fix for that.