Europe must accept that food and fuel, the two necessities of life, have been far too cheap for a generation and in order to save the planet we must now all pay more from now on, according to a senior official at the European Commission.
Diederik Samsom, who is Chief of Staff for Frans Timmermans, the Commission’s Executive Vice-President responsible for energy policy, made the remarks during a recent meeting of Brussels policymakers.
BYPASS THE CENSORS
Sign up to get unfiltered news delivered straight to your inbox.
You can unsubscribe any time. By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use
He said national leaders must be prepared to risk a political backlash and tell voters the truth.
The Times reports: This spring’s inflation figures for the eurozone are bleak: annual inflation is at more than 7%, and a 44% increase in energy costs is also driving up food prices. A double whammy of the invasion of Ukraine, leading to the phasing out of Russian fossil fuel imports, and Europe’s transition to carbon-free energy have hastened the huge price increases.
Higher energy costs, including a sixfold increase in the cost of gas as an agricultural input, have driven food prices even higher. And the war in Ukraine has disrupted markets in key agricultural commodities, such as wheat and cooking oil, causing knock-on effects all the way along supply chains.
In EU countries the cost of soft wheat has increased 64.6% since March last year and the price of rapeseed, a key oil seed, has risen 77.8%. There are now shortages of sunflower oil, of which 73% of global exports originate in Russia and Ukraine.
The European Commission, which sets key energy policies across the European Union, sees the higher bills as a long overdue and unavoidable reckoning with reality.
Diederik Samsom, Chief of Staff for Frans Timmermans, the Commission’s Executive Vice-President responsible for energy policy, warned that the previous low cost of living came at the expense of the environment and depended on imports of Russia’s fossil fuels.
Samsom admitted that “no one dares to say out loud” to voters that past living standards were unsustainable and that higher prices will be permanent.
“Yes, energy will be much more expensive as of now. Energy was way too cheap for the last 40 years,” he told a recent meeting of Brussels policymakers at the Bruegel think tank, urging governments to confront “taboos”.
“We have profited from it and created enormous wealth at the expense of planet Earth and, as we realise right now, at the expense of geopolitical imbalances [with dependency on Russia]. Both need to be repaired. In order to repair them we need to pay more for energy – and also for food. The two basic needs of life – food and energy – we have paid way too little for in the past 40 years.”
Niamh Harris
Latest posts by Niamh Harris (see all)
- Baltimore Barge Disaster Was A ‘Black Swan’ Event Says General Flynn - March 27, 2024
- Joe Biden Calls Putin ‘A Butcher’ - March 27, 2024
- Russia Blasts Bloomberg Article As ‘Mother Of All Fakes’ - March 27, 2024
Higher profits for the rich. More desperately poor They like that. They can buy them for less and less.
Lack of useible H2O means our goverment is asleep at the wheel and they need to use sea water with the salt removed before we are just a dune dust storm again
WATER SHEDing some sea water without the salt should have happen years ago as north american slowly turns back into the dune
NO NO NO IT means the ONE% is staving the world to death as the covid and DMZ bitty war didn`t DO THE TRICK
Zkraina does not supply the world and who the FN WTF would ever try to put that one over on the public?
99% is at the wim of the 1% as they kick us around like dogs but we seem to like it and do nothing to over rule them and stop them