00:00Madame President de Roberta, Deputy Minister Raouna, dear Marilena,
00:07Honourable Members, let me start with the ongoing situation in the Middle East.
00:14For decades, Ayatollah Khamenei ruled through repression, violence and fear.
00:20Under his rule, Iranians lived under a system that silenced dissent and crushed basic freedoms.
00:31Earlier this year, hundreds of thousands of young Iranians took to the streets to demand a better future.
00:39They were met with brutal repression.
00:43More than 17,000 young men and women were killed as the regime clung to power.
00:50But the crimes of this regime go back decades.
00:54It imprisoned and tortured its own citizens.
00:58It sponsored terrorism across the region and even on European soil.
01:02And it provided crucial support to Russia's brutal war against Ukraine.
01:09There should be no tears shed for such a regime.
01:21Many Iranians have celebrated Khamenei's downfall.
01:25They hope that this moment can open a path towards a free Iran.
01:30That is what the Iranian people deserve.
01:33Freedom, dignity and the right to decide their own future.
01:39But allow me to make one important point.
01:44Seeing the world as it is in no way diminishes our determination to fight for the world as we want
01:54it.
01:54The European Union was founded as a peace project.
01:59Our unwavering commitment to the pursuit of peace, to the principles of the UN Charter and to international law
02:09are as central today as they were at our creation.
02:15And we will always uphold these principles.
02:25Honourable Members, Europe's first responsibility is to protect our citizens
02:29and to prepare for the impacts of this conflict.
02:33And Deputy Minister, dear Marie-Lena, I want also to be very clear.
02:40All of us stand here in full solidarity with Cyprus.
02:45Your security is our security.
02:53Honourable Members, we are also seeing the impact of the situation in the Middle East on energy.
02:59Thanks to the actions we have taken in the recent years,
03:03Europe is now far less exposed to fossil fuels imports.
03:08Our diversification efforts are paying off.
03:11But this does not mean that we are immune to price shocks.
03:16Energy markets are global.
03:19Disruptions in the Gulf quickly affect prices everywhere.
03:24We are already seeing price spikes.
03:26And this is why the G7 energy ministers met yesterday to be followed by a video call by G7 leaders.
03:35But no matter what we do, in terms of measures,
03:41as long as we import a significant share of fossil fuels from unstable regions,
03:49we are vulnerable and we are dependent.
03:53And this energy always comes at a cost.
03:57I want to give you just an example.
04:00Since the beginning of this conflict,
04:03gas prices have risen by 50%
04:06and oil prices have risen by 27%.
04:11If you translate this in euros,
04:13the 10 days of war have already cost European taxpayers an additional 3 billion euros in fossil fuel imports.
04:26That is the price of our dependence.
04:33The fact is, we have energy sources that are homegrown.
04:39Renewables and nuclear.
04:41Their prices have remained the same over the last 10 days.
04:46Yet in current crisis,
04:48some argue that we should abandon our long-term strategy
04:53and even go back to Russian fossil fuels.
04:56This would be a strategic blunder.
05:00It would make us more dependent,
05:02more vulnerable and weaker.
05:05So we should stay the course of our long-term strategy.
05:09We can be more pragmatic.
05:11We can be smart in its implementation, no question.
05:13But the direction of travel is the right one.
05:18Now, where do we stand today?
05:21Households and companies face pressure now.
05:24So we must deliver relief now.
05:27And we must comprehensively look
05:30at how we can reduce people's energy bills.
05:34Not only looking at one component,
05:37but rather at all four components of the price.
05:40That is, the cost of the energy itself,
05:45which makes more or less 56% on average of the bill,
05:52which charges on average 18%,
05:55taxes and levies 15%,
05:58and carbon costs on average around 11%.
06:02As I said, of course, these are averages
06:06and they differ depending on the energy mix
06:09in the respective member state.
06:12Now, on the cost of energy,
06:14on the market design.
06:17Overall, the current market design has delivered.
06:22And there is overall support for the current system.
06:26But it is crucial that we reduce the cost impact
06:31when gas sets the electricity price.
06:36Therefore, we are preparing different options,
06:39better use of power purchase agreements
06:42and contracts for difference,
06:45state aid measures.
06:47And we are exploring subsidizing
06:51or even capping the gas price.
06:55Second, on the grid charges.
06:57That is a delicate matter
06:58because on one hand,
06:59these charges are needed to invest in more
07:02and smarter grids.
07:04And on the other hand,
07:05there is room to increase the productivity of grids
07:09so that less renewables are wasted.
07:12And here I want to give you one figure
07:14that is telling.
07:15Last year, we installed more than 80 gigawatts
07:19of renewables in the European Union.
07:21A record.
07:23So far, so good.
07:24But six times more renewable energy
07:28does not get access to the grids.
07:32So if we produced six times more renewables,
07:35that was wasted.
07:37With electricity demand set to increase,
07:41this is simply not sustainable.
07:44My third point on taxes and levy,
07:46this is, of course, a national competence.
07:48I fully respect that.
07:50But it is also true that some member states
07:52are taxing electricity much higher even than gas.
07:58To give you another example,
07:59one member state applies 0% taxes,
08:04zero, on retail electricity,
08:07while some others apply over 16%.
08:09That makes a difference.
08:11So there is room for action.
08:13And as I said, it is a national competence.
08:17Finally, the fourth component on ETS.
08:21Also on ETS, let me give you one figure.
08:23Without ETS,
08:27we would now consume 100 billion cubic meter more gas,
08:34again, making us more vulnerable,
08:37more dependent, and weaker.
08:39So we need ETS,
08:41but we need to modernize it.
08:43And I look forward to continuing this debate
08:45on all these elements with you here
08:48in the European Parliament.
08:51Honorable members,
08:52let me finish on another aspect of competitiveness.
08:55It is one thing that we actually agree
08:59on components of competitiveness.
09:01That's good.
09:01But it's another thing that we deliver
09:05on the action and the legislation.
09:08And this is why we will soon present a roadmap
09:12for One Europe, One Market.
09:16The purpose of this roadmap is
09:20that we set out key legislative measures
09:23that we must adopt
09:26with clear timelines,
09:28clear targets,
09:29to deliver them by the end of 2027.
09:32We want to be done
09:33and completed with the work
09:35by the end of 2027
09:37for One Europe, One Market.
09:43And I say that explicitly
09:45because we all know by experience
09:46only what gets measured gets done.
09:50So the roadmap contains various packages of legislation.
09:54It's also very important.
09:56Savings and investment union,
09:58all the topics of energy I was just touching upon,
10:01quality jobs, AI, gigafactories,
10:04the 28th regime.
10:05You just name it.
10:06These are only a few.
10:08My point is that I would like
10:12all three institutions,
10:14Parliament, Council and Commission,
10:17to sign up for it.
10:19We know the challenges.
10:21We know what must be done.
10:23Now we must deliver for European citizens.
10:26Thank you and long live Europe.
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