Read the Full Report Here 

Brussels, Belgium

A new report released today skewers European energy policy as “unready and impotent” to deal with the current and future challenges European citizens face this winter in managing the energy crisis.  

The report Lights Out: Is the EU Failing on Energy Policy, from the think tank MCC Brussels, is written by Professor James Woudhuysen, and examines:

• That EU policy and energy decision-making is more performative than effective.
• How EU policy decisions have made things worse. 
• Tough choices on clean energy, green deals, and Europe’s dangerous reliance on China.

Professor Woudhuysen, author of the report, said:

“From today’s belated political pushback against Net Zero to the disagreements between France and other member states on nuclear power, it’s time for an honest discussion of the EU’s failings in energy policy. The same goes for the EU’s historic reliance on Russian gas, plus its current resort to Liquefied Natural Gas from the shale fields of the US.

“Disputes between Member States can no longer be waved away. The EU should publicly question all its major assumptions on energy- its austere and fruitless obsession with energy efficiency; the reliability or otherwise  of renewables; the fact that ‘clean’ tech often means reliance on China or on child miners in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the charade of the EU Emissions Trading System.”

“For too long, energy research, development, innovation and productivity have taken a back seat to the demand that households and businesses tighten their energy belts. This cannot continue.”

Frank Furedi, Director of MCC Brussels, who commissioned the report, said:

“Climate change is a real problem. But it is no good for the EU to try to return to the Old Normal, in which fears about climate completely occluded the need to keep the lights on. We have entered a harsh new world, and sooner or later, a harsh judgment will be made about the Commission’s energy policy. In a spirit of openness and the knowledge that energy demand will not go away, it should steer clear of climate alarmism and stick to fundamentals. The European Green Deal, the energy ‘transition’ – these honeyed, shimmering concepts have had to make way for the true grit of security of supply and affordability. “

The key findings and recommendations in the report will be discussed at a public event to be held at Stanhope Hotel Brussels with a presentation by the author and replies from Mr Rob Roos MEP and Dr Peter Hefele, Policy Director of the Wilfried Martens Centre 

Event details:

• 5.30 PM, Tuesday 23 May
• Stanhope Hotel Brussels, Rue du Commerce 9, 1000 Bruxelles

Keynote lecture: Professor James Woudhuysen, author of MCC Brussels’ latest report: Lights out: Is the EU Failing on Energy Policy? 

Respondents: 

• Dr Peter Hefele, Policy Director, Wilfried Martens Centre 
• Mr Rob Roos MEP

Register for the discussion here.

About MCC Brussels