EU not considering designating Feb. 16 as European Energy Saving Day

Brussels – Energy conservation and efficient use of energy? Important, but not so much as to establish a dedicated European day. “The EU Commission is currently not considering making February 16 the European Day for Energy Saving and Sustainable Lifestyles,” said Dan Jorgensen, commissioner for Energy and Housing Policy, responding to the Italian parliamentarians who instead called on the EU executive to do so.

In a cross-party initiative, the various Italian delegations in the European Parliament (PP, Fi, Greens, FdI, M5S) called for making ‘M’illumino di meno’ (‘Dim the Lights’) ‘ an EU initiative, not just an Italian one. The environmental campaign that originated on radio through the ‘Caterpillar’ show has become a national day since 2022. For the time being, however, there is no intention in Brussels to take Italy as a model of excellence in ‘eco-consciousness’ and not to proceed for further recognition of the energy-saving awareness moment.

“The importance of energy efficiency for competitiveness, energy security, and decarbonization was recently confirmed in the Clean Industry Pact and the Affordable Energy Action Plan,” Jorgensen added. Nonetheless, he remains convinced of the need to continue to insist on “the importance of promoting energy efficiency, including energy savings.” Energy efficiency is not in doubt, as the commissioner goes on to explain, “It is the cheapest, safest, and cleanest way to reduce our reliance on fossil fuel imports from Russia, contribute to decarbonization, and increase EU’s competitiveness.”

However, the von der Leyen team believes it has already taken enough action and does not need to do more. Energy efficiency, recalls the current Energy Commissioner, “was one of the three main pillars of the REPowerEU Communication of May 18, 2022, which was accompanied by the Communication on Energy Savings in the EU.” In short, the first Von der Leyen Commission already gave centrality to the issue, which remains key but off the Gregorian calendar — at least for now.