Brussels – The European Commission’s strategy for energy independence, RepowerEU, is a policy fraught with challenges. The European Court of Auditors highlights these in a special report, which reveals the hasty nature of a measure that, while dictated by the situation, was adopted in a rather ill-considered manner. The result is that “the REPowerEU plan still lacks effective governance tools to steer its implementation and EU funding has played only a minor role in ending reliance on Russian oil and gas.” Furthermore, “not enough investment has been triggered to accelerate the clean energy transition and strengthen cross-border connections.”
The auditors in Luxembourg effectively reject the strategy to respond to Russia’s war in Ukraine and the resulting energy crisis, in what amounts to a real slap in the face for the von der Leyen Commission, which is being criticised for having wasted time and money. “Four years after its launch, REPowerEU has stalled, even though several hundred billion euros have been made available,” stressed Mihails Kozlovs, the member of the European Court of Auditors responsible for the report.
Kozlovs’ statements and the Court of Auditors’ report refute claims by the President of the European Commission, who instead boasted its effectiveness by presenting only part of the truth. While “the EU has significantly reduced its dependence on Russian fossil fuels”, as the Luxembourg auditors acknowledge, “the Recovery Fund measures included in the REPowerEU chapters can make only a limited contribution to clean energy production capacity and cross-border interconnections.”
In addition, RepowerEU is designed both to reduce strategic energy dependence on Russia and as a punitive measure against Moscow. It is a pity that the regulation “does not include any provisions imposing direct penalties on member states that fail to comply with the ban” on all gas imports from 2027. Furthermore, “Russian fossil fuels are still imported indirectly to the EU via third countries (for example Turkey, China or India).” However, as the Court of Auditors’ report notes, “there is no reliable data on how much Russian oil is imported via these third countries.”
In a nutshell, the EU has made a mess of things. Therefore, as the report’s author, Mihails Kozlovs, emphasises, “we must learn the right lessons now, as the new geopolitical tensions and their impact on energy markets underscore the need to accelerate diversification and prevent future over-reliance on a single supplier. That is why we are calling for coordinated efforts to re-energise the plan.”
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
