Why Spain is set for a key role in Europe’s energy policy
Saturday’s speech in Madrid by Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, about Spain’s growing role in the European energy map (link in Spanish) following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was short, but important.
Moscow’s actions makes it more urgent than ever for the European Union to reduce its dependence on Russian fossil fuels: 46.7% of the coal, 41.1% of the gas and 26.9% of the oil consumed by EU member states come from Russia.
Most of Russia’s export earnings come from fossil fuels ($240 billion), and more than half of that is earned in the European Union. The European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States together pay Russia around $500 million a day for fossil fuels, which is practically equivalent to financing the war they say they’re trying to stop. Energy dependence on Russia is so important that two major Russian banks have been exempted from the exclusion from SWIFT imposed last week so the West can continue paying its energy bills. If coordinated European action were to succeed in reducing dependence on Russia by just one third in a year, which is feasible, it would deprive the Russian economy of more than $16,000 million annually.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is an opportunity to accelerate the transition to renewable energies and reduce dependence on…
