Europe's Energy Bill Soar Amid Mideast Tensions

(MENAFN) Europe has been forced to absorb a staggering €27 billion ($32 billion) in additional oil and gas import costs since the outbreak of hostilities between the U.S. and Israel against Iran, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned Monday — marking what she called the continent's second major energy crisis in under four years.

Addressing reporters at a news conference in Berlin, von der Leyen drew a stark parallel between the current disruption and the energy shock triggered by Russia's gas cutoff in 2022, framing Europe's chronic reliance on imported fossil fuels as a structural vulnerability that can no longer be ignored.

"In 2022, (Russian President) Putin cut off our gas supply, and now it's the Strait of Hormuz," she told reporters. "Our heavy dependence on imported fossil fuels makes us vulnerable. We must reduce this dependence," she said.

Von der Leyen called on EU member states to extract hard lessons from back-to-back energy shocks and pivot decisively toward energy self-sufficiency. She outlined a dual-track strategy centered on aggressively scaling up renewable energy capacity while simultaneously pursuing nuclear innovation — specifically highlighting small modular reactors as a promising frontier technology for securing stable, long-term power supplies.

"Every kilowatt-hour of energy generated here contributes to economic stability, affordable energy, and thus to Europe's independence," she said.

The remarks signal growing urgency within Brussels over the bloc's exposure to geopolitical shocks, as spiraling energy costs threaten to compound existing economic pressures across EU member states.

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