The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, now assures that the European Union maintains firm its commitments to the “search for peace, with the principles of the UN Charter and with international law”. The top leader says that these principles are as central as they were during their creation given the escalation of tension in the Middle East after the start of the war in Iran by the United States and Israel.
However, the leader has reiterated the idea that the continent “should not shed a single tear” for the Iranian regime and states that many Iranians hope that this moment can open a path towards a free Iran. “Seeing the world as it is, in no way diminishes our determination to fight for the world we want”, she declared before a European Parliament that listened to her words with skepticism after she assured this Monday before the European diplomatic corps that the continent could not remain as the guardian of a rules-based order.
Some words from the German that did not sit well in the community capital, to the point that her counterpart in the European Council, António Costa, came out a day later to retract them. He appealed to defend the need to “ensure that the world remains based on rules” in an international context in which, in his opinion, the United States “challenges the international order”. In the European Commission, fear began to grow, not unfounded, that a parliamentary rebellion could awaken against the current Executive, and they did not take long to qualify the discourse only two days later. Some socialist MEPs, who until now supported the so-called “Von der Leyen majority”, were already timidly opening the door to a motion of no confidence, without specifying anything.
In Brussels they are already working on the next post-war scenario because they confirm that “the impact of the situation in the Middle East on energy is already being seen”. Von der Leyen warns that, despite the fact that Europe is now much less exposed to fossil fuel imports, this does not mean that the continent is immune to price increases. “As long as we continue to import a significant part of fossil fuels from unstable regions, we will be vulnerable and dependent”, she sentenced. Her cabinet estimates that ten days after the start of the war European taxpayers have already had to bear three billion additional euros in fossil fuel imports.
“We must comprehensively analyze how we can reduce people's energy bills”. This strategy of the top leader involves taking into account four price components: the cost of energy, network charges, taxes, and carbon costs. Regarding the levies, despite recognizing that it is a national competence, she has expressed her endorsement of those Member States that tax electricity much more than gas.
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