Panic and capitulation won’t save Europe
EU delays methane regulation and urges gas demand restraint, as Germany orders SEFE to fill storages. But humiliating climbdowns cannot protect Europe this winter
After months of downplaying winter risks, European leaders are belatedly waking up to the harsh reality that the region’s energy security is, still, in the lap of the gods.
The headlines over the past week marked a notable directional pivot. While European capitals are calibrating their public messaging to avoid spooking markets, panicky private communiques and hasty interventions on the eve of winter are far from reassuring.
The European Commission is looking at delaying implementation of the EU’s flagship methane regulation, having already gutted the mechanism under intense pressure from industry and member states.
Separately, the bloc’s energy chief has urged member states to curb energy demand to reduce gas and electricity consumption amid “exceptionally low” storage levels.
Meanwhile Germany, which is blessed with some of Europe’s biggest storage sites but cursed by an inability to manage them effectively, is finally instructing state-owned SEFE to procure extra gas to narrow the country’s yawning storage deficit.
Every one of these U-turns felt simultaneously inevitable and ineffective. Ministers and commissioners for too long have pretended the opposite: no action was needed, and when they realised something must be done, that half-baked measures would be enough.
If the weather is cruel this winter, it will reveal just how inadequate Europe’s response to the Hormuz crisis has been all along.
Member discussion: Panic and capitulation won’t save Europe
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