14.09.2022
Energy-related issues strongly highlighted in the State of the Union speech, Tuppurainen praises the firmness of the speech
The State of the European Union address by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, highlighted in particular the issues of energy market regulation and European energy independence.
“Companies are collecting profits that they could not even have imagined. In these times, it is wrong to earn at war and at the expense of households," said von der Leyen, explaining that it is possible for the countries of the European Union to raise an estimated €140 billion from the excess profits of energy companies. More specifically, he did not open the action, but mentioned that it was temporary and that, for example, price caps would be a question.
As one of the openings in the energy sector, President von der Leyen said: “With RePowerEU, we will invest in the hydrogen economy in the coming years. A concrete proposal is to set up a European Hydrogen Bank, in which EUR 3 billion can be invested.
From the perspective of Northern Ostrobothnia, energy investments in line with the green transition are interesting. For example, the Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia's own and cooperation projects wind power and the Battery Industry They are closely related to the issues raised in the speech. In particular, the potential of the hydrogen economy is related to: the Northern Ostrobothnia Regional Programme EMMI.
The speech also underlined the need for the European Union to make efforts to ensure that lithium and rare earths are soon more important than oil and gas as part of the green transition, and that the territory of the European Union should not become dependent on a single country in that respect.
Tuppurainen praises the decisive and firm approach of the speech
Minister for European Affairs and Ownership Steering and Member of Parliament Tytti Tuppurainen from Oulu congratulates the speech especially on the strong message it contains.
“Ukraine must win the war and the EU must stand united in support of Ukraine. The sanctions against Russia are not being lifted. "Sanctions are here to stay," von der Leyen said. Russia is using energy as a weapon against Europe and the EU needs to find ways out of the crisis", Tuppurainen says.
It reminds me that VMr der Leyen underlined the need for the EU to continue to break its dependence on Russian energy.
“Progress has been made and, for example, for gas storage facilities, the target has already been exceeded. I believe it is important for EU countries to act decisively and unitedly on this issue", Tuppurainen says.
“I attach great importance to strengthening the rule of law in the EU. In his speech, von der Leyen shared the same goal. He said that the Commission's role was to protect the rule of law and stressed that the independence of the judiciary would be upheld. He promised that the conditionality mechanism would be used to protect the Union budget. This is in line with the rule of law adopted under the Finnish Presidency", Tuppurainen continues.
Year of training
Von der Leyen started her speech by speaking long and beautifully about Ukraine’s courage and heroism, recalling that the EU is supporting Ukraine in Russia’s war of aggression. According to Von der Leyen, Europeans can be proud that they gathered their ranks so quickly after the war began.
He also recalled that Europe must become a more attractive region from the point of view of labour migration. Therefore, Von der Leyen proposed making 2023 the Year of Education and, above all, of Continuing Education.
Every year in September, the President of the European Commission delivers a State of the Union address to the European Parliament, presenting the achievements of the past year and the priorities for the following year. From the point of view of the European Commission, the speech is one of the key events of the year in the European Union.
