{"id":529891,"date":"2026-04-14T07:04:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T07:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/529891\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T07:04:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T07:04:12","slug":"eu-commission-backs-renewables-and-nuclear-to-shield-europe-from-fossil-fuel-gulf-turmoil-euobserver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/529891\/","title":{"rendered":"EU Commission backs renewables and nuclear to shield Europe from fossil-fuel Gulf turmoil \u2013 EUobserver"},"content":{"rendered":"

The European Commission is championing renewable and nuclear energy as safeguards against future shocks from global conflicts such as Iran \u2014 even as critics warn it has spent the past year hollowing out ambitions of the Green Deal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur objective is very clear. We need to scale up the homegrown, affordable, reliable energy,\u201d said European Commission president Ursula Von der Leyen on Monday (13 April).<\/p>\n

She highlighted the need for small modular reactors (SMRs), which she described as a promising technology currently drawing research and investment interests in the United States, China, UK, Japan and Canada.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have the SMRs and you have the renewables. That is the way to go forward,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The comments came on the back of the US-led conflict in Iran that has engulfed the region in war, while placing a chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz where goods and fossil fuels<\/a> pass through to reach global markets primarily in Asia.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But the impact has also been felt in Europe with a \u20ac22bn increase in fossil-fuel imports since the launch of the war 44 days ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis shows the enormous impact this crisis has on our economy, even if the hostility ceased immediately,\u201d she said, adding that Europe is paying a high price for its over dependency on fossil fuels.<\/p>\n

Von der Leyen said the only lasting way out of fossil fuel dependency is to modernise by shifting electricity generation to renewables and nuclear.<\/p>\n

She said they both account for over 70 percent of Europe\u2019s electricity generation, noting however that huge volumes of clean power remain unused and wasted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we need is storage. We need flexibility. We need to accelerate the grid connections and to improve this overall situation,\u201d she said urging EU member states to fast-track approval of the electricity grid modernisation legislation introduced last December.<\/p>\n

The proposal, designed to bolster renewable energy integration, was initially scheduled for adoption by the end of the year, but she now wants it agreed among the co-legislators by this summer.<\/p>\n

The Brussels-executive is hoping that EU states will listen as they gather for a leadership meeting next week (23-24 April) in Cyprus, which is currently steering the EU\u2019s rotating six-month presidency.<\/p>\n

Families, gas storage, oil reserves and income support<\/p>\n

The plan will outline a set of recommendations for EU member states aimed at dampening the economic fallout from Iran\u2019s crisis, particularly for European households already hit by rising prices and shrinking budgets.<\/p>\n

Among the measures are proposals for coordinated gas storage and the joint release of oil reserves, steps intended to stabilise energy supply and prices across the bloc.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The European Commission is championing renewable and nuclear energy as safeguards against future shocks from global conflicts such…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":529892,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[155093,1397,183574,183577,183572,183575,90,183573,183576,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-529891","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-typedefinedterm","9":"tag-environment","10":"tag-identifier25","11":"tag-identifier4293","12":"tag-namegreen-economy","13":"tag-nameiran","14":"tag-science","15":"tag-termcodegreen-economy","16":"tag-termcodeiran","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom","19":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=529891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/529892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=529891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=529891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=529891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}