THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION. Reforming Europe in a time of war

THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION 40 the energetic renovation of their houses or the founding of local cooperatives. They should be networked with ex- perts and craftsmen in the area and receive help through the jungle of possible financial support. Such contact points already exist in Europe – so far, however, primarily in wealthy, administratively well-positioned municipali- ties. But they are needed everywhere, they must be well staffed and financially equipped, and they must be able to act quickly. The need for coherence and solidarity The European Union is committed to fair competition. And the question of which subsidies and grants the Eu- ropean states are allowed to provide in their countries is decided at the European level. But if, for example, the limits for requiring a Europe-wide tender are set very low, then this slows down the implementation of small and medium-sized energy projects. And state aid policy must also allow leeway to support important projects. National and European regional and structural policy, research and technology policy, and the promotion of small and me- dium-sized enterprises must be used more consistently than in the past, as tools for the energy transition. The energy and industrial transition in Europe must finally be thought of as a whole, and implemented con- sistently. Up to now, financial and administrative funding opportunities have been created in one place while new hurdles have been set up elsewhere through contrary regulations. Examples can be seen in the discrimination of decentralised energy projects of small and medi- um-sized entrepreneurs and cooperatives. The current draft for the green taxonomy also contains correspond- ing hurdles for smaller and decentralised projects. There- fore, in the future, an examination of all projects and legislative initiatives with regard to their climate policy significance and their role in the energy transition should be made mandatory. Is climate-neutral conversion Europe’s ‘man on the moon moment’, as Commission President Ursula von der Leyen described it? That sounds right, and quite aptly de- scribes the challenge and its epochal nature. But getting to the moon calls for cooperation. In order to undertake this European project and at the same time secure our energy and, along with it, our prosperity, we will need to work together and bring all our power to bear on this. It will only work with solidarity, cooperation, and everyone pushing in the same direction.The goal must remain a Eu- ropean Energy Union that integrates sustainable technol- ogies across borders. We will therefore also need to take each other at our word in order to tackle the systematic restructuring of our energy systems and our economy, while not losing sight of the goal of climate protection. In this sense, the EU emergency plan agreed by mem- bers at the end of July is an important signal. The plan calls for a voluntary 15 per cent reduction in national consumption between August and March, compared with average consumption over the same period in the past five years. If not enough is saved and there are wide- spread supply shortages, an alarm with binding savings targets can be triggered in the EU. While it is unlikely that the savings target of 45 billion cubic meters of gas originally planned by the Commission can be achieved under the current regulation - the chairman of the In- ternational Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, mentioned the target of 20 per cent that Europe would have to save in order to prevent a major crisis in winter – it is still an impressive move. It is also appropriate that the German government is aiming for a higher national savings target than 15 per cent. After all, the plan is widely perceived as a solidarity mechanism in favor of Germany because the country is much more vulnerable than other member states. Al- though the heavy dependence on Russian natural gas is not a purely German problem, but rather a Central Eastern European one, Germany is strongly in the focus of this debate in Europe. Failure of these joint efforts would have sent a dev- astating signal internally and externally. Putin is clearly aiming at a rift within the EU. That is why it is so impor- tant that there was an agreement. The task now is to