00:00And of course, you had the opportunity to speak to the European Commissioner for Energy,
00:03Dan Jorgensen. He was in Strasbourg yesterday. We can take a look now at that interview, Maria.
00:07This is, of course, a very serious situation. It is not as bad as in February 22, when Russia
00:14attacked Ukraine. At that time, we were more dependent on one single source of our energy,
00:19and it was fossil. It was gas from Russia. Now we are better situated to deal with the situation.
00:24But still, when the world market prices go up, it is a problem for us.
00:30Which shows us one thing very clearly, that is, let's get rid of the dependency of fossil fuels.
00:35Let's have more homegrown, clean energy. And of course, the G7 has been holding meetings.
00:41There's a lot of speculation about a release of strategic reserves.
00:44Is that something that you think would be helpful at this stage?
00:47It is something that can become relevant. It would help keep the prices down.
00:51We are not in a situation where we have security of supply issues in Europe right now.
00:56But, of course, the question of the prices are extremely important for our citizens and our industries.
01:03And we also need to be working in solidarity with our partners in the International Energy Agency Network.
01:10So is there going to be a release of these assets? Or is it something that at this point,
01:15there's consensus is a good idea, but not a date? What would trigger it?
01:19That is too early to say. We are in the process of analyzing this.
01:22But, of course, it can happen.
01:24And, of course, your job is to ensure energy security for the European Union.
01:28You say this is different to the Russian invasion.
01:30But there is a question of pricing.
01:32What measures in the short term can you put forward to deal with the escalation in prices?
01:36Of course, there is a very clear concern for us that the prices are too high for our citizens and
01:42our industry.
01:43That's also why today we've put forward several different measures, both some that has the aim to help our long
01:51-term transition,
01:52but also some that can work short-term.
01:54For instance, we've sent a very clear signal to the member states of the Union.
01:57We recommend that you lower the taxes on electricity.
02:01That would make it easier for your industries to compete.
02:04It will make it easier for your citizens to pay their bills, and it will be good for the green
02:09transition.
02:10And you can do that tomorrow.
02:12It's not something where you have to wait for a new legislative proposal to be put forward for long negotiations
02:17and so forth.
02:18It can be done short-term.
02:19And is that the maximum that you contemplate, or is there more things that you could put on the table
02:24if the situation deteriorates?
02:25There's definitely more things that can be put on the table.
02:29It's also very clear that there's a big difference between being in a serious situation like the one we're in
02:34now
02:34and being in an emergency like the one we had in 22.
02:39And since we're not there yet, we're not applying some of the emergency measures that we did in 22.
02:44There has been calls now that leaders could ask, certainly next week when they meet and they talk about competitiveness,
02:50for another review of the ETS.
02:52Is that something that you would say, yes, everything can be reviewed?
02:56We are, of course, continuously discussing what to do with regards to our long-term transition in the European Union,
03:04whilst at the same time addressing immediate needs.
03:07What's important for me to say is that our fundamental direction is the right one.
03:13We need to move away from fossils.
03:15We need to have a green transition.
03:16Why?
03:17Because it lowers prices, because it helps us decarbonize,
03:20but also because it gives us the energy security that we so clearly do not have right now.
03:25That's the lesson we learned from the situation in Ukraine when Russia attacked.
03:30But it's actually also a lesson that we are reminded now that other geopolitical events are affecting our price levels
03:38in Europe.
03:39Of course, you hear the industry saying the issue is that Europe does not have energy security.
03:43You cannot be competitive if you do not have energy security.
03:47Is that an exaggeration, or do you look at it and you say, it's a fair point.
03:50At this point, Europe does not have that level of security.
03:53No, unfortunately, it's very clear that we are not independent.
03:57We import for more than €370 billion fossiles every year.
04:02That's not sustainable for our climate, certainly, but not for our economy either.
04:07We need to use more homegrown energy.
04:10The good news is that that homegrown energy will also be cheaper than the fossil alternative.
04:14So not only will it help us to become more independent and therefore be good for our security,
04:19it will also be good for our economy.
04:22Now, this is not something that might happen in the future and that we're waiting for.
04:26This is something that we are already doing.
04:28So last year, we deployed a record of 89 gigawatts of new renewables.
04:33That saved us more than €30 billion, just these newly deployed renewables.
04:39And this year, we will do the same.
04:41So we are moving in the right direction.
04:42But when are you going to see that manifested in prices, however,
04:45especially given this volatility, because the direction of prices has been up,
04:48certainly for the past week?
04:50The deployment of new renewables brings the prices down.
04:52This means that had we not had the renewables that we have,
04:54the prices would have been much higher.
04:56That's one of the reasons why we don't see the same effects now as we did in 2022.
05:02So when prices are set for electricity, for instance,
05:04the most cheap energy bids first, and that's the renewables.
05:08Then sometimes if you don't have enough renewables in the system
05:11and it's the fossils that set the price, the gas that sets the price,
05:16that's when the prices go up also on the renewables.
05:19And the less hours, the better we can become at having less hours
05:25of the fossil setting the price, the better, of course, it is.
05:28So that's one of the reasons.
05:29I know it's a bit complicated, but that's one of the reasons why
05:32we are in a better situation now than we were in 2022.
05:35The Russian president has said that Russia is ready to intervene in this market
05:38to stabilize prices.
05:39When you hear that, what does that make you think?
05:42What does that allude to you?
05:43We absolutely do not want Russian energy.
05:46Russia is conducting a terrible war on our friends in Ukraine,
05:51and we do not want to help indirectly finance that war by buying Russian energy.
05:56Russia has weaponized energy against us.
05:59Russia has blackmailed member states of the European Union using energy.
06:03So for us, we've said no more to this,
06:06and that is a standpoint that we will stick to.
06:09Russia has been给健康 in many ways.
06:11Russia has been originally been in great detail.
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