'Recovery could take years’: EU energy commissioner forecasts future energy pain

Published on 23/04/2026 - 10:18 GMT+2

Europe’s vigor chief, Dan Jørgensen, laid bare the realities of the struggle and however it volition interaction Europeans' wallets aft presenting a highly anticipated suite of measures aimed astatine blunting the fiscal interaction of the Iran warfare crossed Europe.

“We are successful the mediate of a precise atrocious situation close now,” Jørgensen told Euronews connected the sidelines of the presentation, announced alongside Executive Vice-President for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition, Teresa Ribera.

“I bash person to beryllium rather blunt and accidental that we are looking into immoderate precise hard months and adjacent years, due to the fact that adjacent if there's a bid tomorrow, to rebuild the state infrastructure, for instance, successful Qatar volition instrumentality possibly years,” helium said, adding, “Prices volition not stabilise astatine the level they were earlier this crisis.”

Two months of turmoil successful the Middle East person outgo the continent an other €24 cardinal successful further vigor costs, totalling an eye-watering €5 cardinal per day, according to European Commission data.

To cushion the blow, the EU enforcement announced connected Wednesday a bundle of initiatives aimed astatine supporting European citizens, businesses, and sectors.

The European Commission is urging EU governments to supply vigor vouchers, income support, and societal tariffs to enactment susceptible Europeans amid what has been dubbed the world’s worst vigor crisis.

The connection did not see immoderate initiatives mandating EU subordinate states to promote a one-day work-from-home argumentation oregon taxes connected windfall profits — bonzer profits earned by companies owed to unexpected circumstances.

“The windfall taxation is surely thing that subordinate states tin take to present astatine a nationalist level, and if they take that, we volition besides assistance facilitate and advise, drafting connected immoderate of the experiences, some the bully ones and the atrocious ones, from 2022,” Jørgensen said.

EU’s €90 cardinal indebtedness for Ukraine inches towards reality

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced connected Tuesday that the Druzhba lipid pipeline successful the war-torn state has been repaired and could resume operations imminently.

The announcement ended months of back-and-forth treatment betwixt the now-outgoing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and EU leaders regarding Kyiv’s €90 cardinal lifeline.

Orbán has repeatedly blocked the travel of currency owed to the damaged vigor infrastructure, stating it had been prevented from distributing Russian lipid via Ukraine owed to “political” reasons.

Commissioner Jørgensen told Euronews’ Europe Today programme helium hoped the concern could beryllium resolved “as soon arsenic possible” truthful the state tin proceed fending disconnected Russian aggression, present grinding into its 5th year.

“In my ain portfolio, I tin accidental that moving with Ukraine connected helping to rebuild the vigor assemblage is rather heartbreaking enactment due to the fact that the Russians are brutally bombing the vigor infrastructure of Ukraine,” helium said.

“They've (Ukraine) done truthful done the precise acold winter. People person been freezing, radical person been without electricity, and obviously, it's an costly endeavour to rebuild.”