Europe is under growing pressure to produce a “high-level, independent, science-based” report on its fossil fuel exit to avoid another energy crisis.
Tomorrow (16 September) European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will deliver her State of the European Union (SOTEU) speech.
This is a key moment in the EU’s democracy and is used as an opportunity to reflect on the past year, outline the bloc’s priorities and announce new initiatives. The address is typically followed by a debate with Members of the European Parliament to reinforce accountability.
Back in 2022, von der Leyen used the SOTEU to address Europe’s fossil fuel crisis, triggered by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and reflected on the 1970s energy crisis caused by Middle Eastern wars.
“Some of us remember the car-free weekends to save energy,” she said. “Yet we kept driving on the same road. We did not get rid of our dependency on oil. And worse, fossil fuels were massively subsidised.
