{"id":451198,"date":"2026-04-22T19:49:59","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T17:49:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/04\/22\/il-piano-ue-contro-la-crisi-energetica-accende-lo-scontro-politico-a-bruxelles\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T21:00:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T19:00:04","slug":"the-eus-plan-to-tackle-the-energy-crisis-sparks-a-political-row-in-brussels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/04\/22\/the-eus-plan-to-tackle-the-energy-crisis-sparks-a-political-row-in-brussels\/","title":{"rendered":"The EU\u2019s plan to tackle the energy crisis sparks a political row in Brussels"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 To counter the energy instability fuelled by the conflict in the Middle East and tensions in the Strait of Hormuz,<\/span><\/span> the European Commission presented the AccelerateEU <\/strong>plan today, 22 April<\/a>, focusing on the continent\u2019s energy sovereignty through massive electrification<\/strong> and energy-saving measures<\/span>. The political reception, however, has proved deeply divided:<\/strong> whilst on the one hand there is approval for the push towards electric vehicles and energy independence, on the other hand, there are criticisms of an approach deemed too “ideological” and unrealistic, lacking <\/span>secure public investment and attention to social justice.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

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The Italian opposition has levelled harsh criticism at the Ursula government. Dario Tamburrano <\/strong>(elected as a member of the Five Star Movement, within the European group La Sinistra) described the plan as “a mix of measures that were already planned but never implemented<\/strong>,” which should have prevented crises such as the current one. \u201cOnce again, the Commission is ignoring the fact that, to achieve the energy transition and increase strategic autonomy, substantial investment is needed. Everything else is just hot air,\u201d thundered Tamburrano, before criticising the absence of taxes on energy companies\u2019 windfall profits and the omission of recommendations for remote working. <\/span><\/p>\n

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On the other side, Paolo Borchia<\/strong>\u2014head of the Lega delegation and member of the European Parliament\u2019s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy\u2014who rejected the plan, describing it as steeped in \u201ca strongly ideological approach, based on the idea that the answer lies exclusively in \u2018more integration\u2019, \u2018more electrification\u2019 and a Green Deal elevated to the status of the sole industrial model<\/strong>.\u201d His words ring clear: \u201cThe idea of a system based solely on renewables and electrification is not, and never will be, realistic.\u201d The MEP from the Patriots Group is instead calling for the exploitation of Europe\u2019s unexplored fossil fuel resources<\/strong> and an exemption from the Stability Pact to allow Member States to support households and businesses without being constrained by environmental regulations. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Renew Europe has welcomed the Commission\u2019s adoption of the group\u2019s priorities and calls for a joint effort ahead of tomorrow\u2019s informal Council meeting.<\/strong> \u201cWe must accelerate the implementation of RePowerEU, increase our renewable and nuclear capacity, and strengthen joint gas procurement through AggregateEU to reduce imports and aim for strategic autonomy, making Europe more resilient to price shocks caused by geopolitical volatility.\u201d The group also emphasised that \u201cpublic funding alone will not be sufficient to achieve the transition to clean energy\u201d<\/strong> and that the urgent priority is therefore to \u201cunlock massive private investment,\u201d which is \u201cessential to bridge the necessary annual funding gap of \u20ac750 billion for European competitiveness,\u201d calling for the implementation of the Draghi Report. Christophe Grudler<\/strong>, a French MEP and Renew Europe coordinator on the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, praised the push towards electricity grids, but warned against paying lip service: \u201cAccelerateEU, yes, but let\u2019s really accelerate. It is urgent to keep energy affordable for consumers, but not at the cost of disguised gas subsidies that prolong our energy dependence.\u201d His colleague and fellow countryman, Pascal Canfin<\/strong>, <\/strong>Renew Europe coordinator on the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, hopes that Europe will no longer \u201cbe content with simply changing gas and oil suppliers in the face of geopolitical crises.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

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The Socialists and Democrats (S&D)<\/strong> are also calling for action, proposing an emergency legislative instrument to speed up planning permission for critical infrastructure: \u201cA tool that acts as a bridge between the immediate response to the crisis and the long-term transformation of the European energy system, thereby enabling faster integration of renewable energy, greater electrification and improved grid capacity across the EU.\u201d The group\u2019s vice-president, Mohammed Chahim<\/strong> from the Netherlands, emphasised the urgency of \u201cimmediate and coordinated action\u201d that is at the same time fair and socially just: \u201cWe are calling for strong measures to protect vulnerable households, including a Europe-wide social leasing scheme to ensure people have access to clean energy solutions without upfront costs,\u201d Chahim continued, calling for a tax on windfall profits<\/strong> in the fossil fuel sector to fund social support. <\/span><\/p>\n

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The European Environmental Bureau (EEB)<\/strong>\u2014the European federation of citizens\u2019 environmental organisations\u2014welcomes the move towards electrification, but describes the lessons as having been \u201clearned only on paper\u201d. The EEB highlights a paradox in the Commission\u2019s new plan: whilst promoting electrification as a key solution to overcoming the crisis, the text does not set out a detailed roadmap for its implementation. <\/span>In particular, it criticises the lack of direct public funding<\/strong> at the EU level and of binding measures, elements deemed essential to ensure that the technological transformation takes place at the speed and scale required by the climate challenge.<\/span> The network also draws attention to windfall profits: \u201cAlthough the plan acknowledges that Member States may tax energy companies\u2019 windfall profits, it leaves full discretion at the national level and does not establish any framework at the EU level, despite calls from Member States and civil society.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

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Finally, the NGO Transport & Environment (T&E)<\/strong> has also expressed deep disappointment at the EU\u2019s failure to tax windfall oil profits, estimated at \u20ac37 billion<\/strong> since the start of the crisis. According to Andrea Boraschi<\/strong>, director of T&E Italy, the Commission has missed an opportunity to use those funds to promote citizens\u2019 access to electric mobility<\/strong>. The organisation warns that yielding to pressure from manufacturers to weaken carbon dioxide reduction targets would result in 40 million fewer electric vehicles on the roads by 2035.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Environmental NGOs are pointing the finger at the failure to tax windfall profits<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7901,"featured_media":448988,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25706],"tags":[33859,33414,26884,33860,33394],"class_list":["post-451198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-green-economy-en","tag-accelerated-europe","tag-crisi-energetica","tag-commissione-ue-en","tag-scontro","tag-ue"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7901"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451198"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":451199,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451198\/revisions\/451199"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}