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SZÁZADVÉG: FOUR-FIFTHS OF EUROPEANS SAY BRUSSELS RESPONSIBLE FOR ENERGY CRISIS

 

The proportion of Europeans stating that “the misjudged energy policy of the European Commission” was partly to blame for the energy crisis in the European Union increased from 75% in a pre-war survey to 79% in December, the Századvég Foundation said on Wednesday. Századvég said that already after the first significant price increase in the autumn of 2021, several experts expressed the belief that structural problems of the European energy market were partly the result of ideology-driven Brussels policies in the field. Following the outbreak of the Ukraine war, Brussels’ energy policy focused on sanctioning Russian energy and this only further narrowed down the European energy market’s room for manoeuvre, it added. Europeans’ dissatisfaction with Brussels’ policy of sanctions and the resulting increase in energy prices increased during 2022, Századvég said, citing data from its Europe-wide surveys conducted between Jan. 3 and Feb 14, before the start of the war, and between Oct. 13 and Dec. 7. The survey concluded in December showed that among European countries the highest proportion of people that considered Brussels’ efforts responsible for the energy crisis were in Greece (86%) Croatia (also 86%) and Germany (85%). The figures showed an increase compared to the pre-war survey, Századvég said. Responses about Brussels’ responsibility were the most divided in Denmark (60% against 40%), Hungary (65% against 35%), and the Netherlands (67% against 33%), Századvég said. The results in Denmark and the Netherlands probably resulted from higher social support for the sanctions, while in Hungary from the government measures that dampened the negative effects of the sanctions, it added.