On 7 September, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen announced that the Commission will propose five steps to deal with the energy crisis. The EU’s executive branch will put forward a price cap on Russian gas and a mandatory target for reducing electricity use at peak hours which it will discuss with member states.
Part of the proposal is also a so-called “solidarity contribution” from fossil fuel companies making record profits, and revenue cap on companies that don’t produce electricity with natural gas. The Commission rounds off its five proposals with a suggestion to re-channel the record profits of fossil fuel companies to support vulnerable people and companies.
“The objective here is very clear. We must cut Russia's revenues which Putin uses to finance this atrocious war against Ukraine,” said von der Leyen.
The Commission president outlined that Russia’s pipeline accounted for 40% of all imported gas in February and is down to 9% today. Thanks to energy diversification, the EU now receives an increased gas supply from the US, Norway, Algeria, Azerbaijan and others. Russia now exports as much gas to the EU as Norway.
On 6 September Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, that surging energy prices in Europe were instigated by the US by pushing European leaders towards cutting economic and energy cooperation with Moscow.
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