Nearly 50 million Europeans already can’t adequately heat their homes in a normal winter, European Union Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen said in Dublin. The bloc faces no imminent energy-supply crisis, he said, but high prices could leave households struggling to afford heating or travel to work. The immediate threat, in his account, isn’t a shortage. It’s whether people can pay for what they need.
Jørgensen spoke to reporters on Tuesday, on the sidelines of an informal gathering of energy ministers. “We are looking into all ideas of how we can make rules more flexible, be more efficient in our implementation, do what we can, both on the supply and the demand side,” he said. Ministers and EU institutions are discussing those rules and their flexibility, while households already facing heating costs will have to live with the outcome.
Flexibility for fuel, delay for imports
Jørgensen welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron’s request for a temporary relaxation of some fuel rules. Macron wants refineries to produce more diesel and other products, increasing domestic supply. The proposed response gives fuel production more room, even as the commissioner says the EU should accelerate its exit from fossil fuels. Both directions fall within the same transition period he described as “very difficult.”
The European Commission also plans to delay enforcement by one year for parts of the EU methane rules covering imports. Jørgensen said the delay could ease pressure on energy markets while keeping the bloc’s longer-term climate goals intact. “We stick to the objectives, we stick to our ambitions, but I'm proposing now that we take part of it, the parts that are connected to imports, and postpone the set and force date by one year,” he said. The ambition remains on paper. Enforcement on some imports moves back.
Jørgensen said the EU should invest in more renewables, electrification and energy efficiency. “Our answer is twofold: doubling down on the green transition and being flexible and pragmatic in this very difficult transition period. We must help member states, citizens and companies to help this crisis,” he said. His prescription asks governments to manage the green transition and the immediate price crisis at once, while the nearly 50 million people he cited already face inadequate heating.
Tax choices and the cost of electricity
Jørgensen and Fatih Birol, the International Energy Agency’s leader, urged countries to reconsider tax systems that heavily tax electricity but impose lower taxes on gas. Households and industry need affordable electricity if governments want them to switch from gas and oil. The EU co-legislators, the European Council and the Parliament are discussing the issue, with Germany showing reservations.
The Commission won’t propose an EU-wide windfall tax to address sharply rising energy prices. EU countries can introduce national schemes within EU rules, though several have called on the Commission to propose a measure like the one it introduced in 2022. National governments decide whether to tax windfall profits, within the boundaries of the same EU system.
Jørgensen acknowledged that political pressure could push governments to subsidise fossil fuels. He urged them to keep subsidies targeted and temporary so tax policy doesn’t undermine the bloc’s energy transition. Governments face a choice between relief now and the stated goal of moving away from fossil fuels.
Reserves are not a heating guarantee
EU rules set an 80% gas-storage target, down from 90%, and Jørgensen said countries still need to meet it. If countries fall significantly short this winter, the EU could start the next refill season with less gas in reserve and enter what he called a potentially damaging cycle. Fatih Birol said countries have released about 20% of their strategic oil stocks, leaving roughly 80% available if supply disruptions become significantly worse and governments agree to further action. He didn’t consider another emergency release a top priority.
Birol said cooperation between gas-producing and consuming countries would be critical, pointing to Norway, Canada and Nigeria as suppliers that can help Europe manage disruptions. Jørgensen urged governments to accelerate renewables and efficiency, but welcomed more refinery output and a delay to methane enforcement. For households already unable to heat their homes adequately, the difference between the bloc’s ambitions and its practical decisions arrives on the bill.