Mathias Corvinus Collegium’s (MCC) training centre in Brussels presented a study on the European Union’s energy policy at a debate conference on Tuesday. Authors of the study entitled “Lights out: Is the EU failing on energy policy?” found the EU’s energy policy to be incomplete and inadequate to handle the present and future challenges faced by European citizens in the winter in the midst of an energy crisis. James Woudhuysen, visiting professor at London South Bank University, an author of the study, told MTI that the EU’s energy policy and decision-making was more “performative” than effective, adding that its decisions had made the bloc’s energy situation worse instead of improving it. The EU was unprepared for the energy crisis because it believes that energy policy is synonymous with climate policy and focuses on zero emissions and reducing energy consumption instead of expanding energy supply, Woudhuysen said. Concerning the EU’s aim of weaning itself off Russian fossil fuels, he said the bloc should have thought ahead in 2014, but had not had a plan B when it came to gas supply. Woudhuysen said the EU was still too preoccupied with the “climate apocalypse” and was not focused on medium to long-term measures which could guarantee energy security. He added that the EU should publicly question all its assumptions about energy efficiency, energy conservation, the capabilities of renewable energy sources and the “sanctity” of clean energy.