Rather than taking responsibility for its “rushed decisions and failed sanctions policy”, the European Commission is developing its energy policy “in an alternative reality”, a Fidesz MEP said. Commenting on a meeting of the European Parliament Committee on Industry, Research and Energy on the results of European energy policy, András Gyürk said the committee approved the handling of the energy crisis, even as “the recession and nosediving industrial production in Europe paint a very different picture.”
Ensuring access to affordable energy is one of the most important tasks of the EU and the member states, Gyürk said in a statement. “Brussels failed at that”, and its “rushed decisions and failed sanction policy” brought about volatile energy prices, raising utility prices and undermining investors’ trust, he said. European consumers pay seven times more for natural gas than in the US and three times more for electricity than in China, he said, adding that the EC, however, was sticking to its policy, requiring member states to scrap measures aimed at protecting families, such as Hungary’s utility price caps. “At the same time, citizens will give their opinion of the EU’s performance in energy policy, among other things, in next year’s European parliamentary elections,” the statement added.