The EU Commission announced yesterday that its plan dating from May, to make Europe independent from Russian energy supplies with the “REPowerEU” program, will go into effect in 2023. The total volume of the program is €300 billion, with a heavy emphasis on so-called renewable energy sources and “green” technologies in production, transport, and construction. The net result, however, will be a weakening of Europe’s economies, rather than their ostensible re-empowerment.
Switzerland’s Neue Zürcher Zeitung reports that, as far as the financing of REPowerEU is concerned, one would probably have to speak of “Recycling-EU.” EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen trumpeted the figure of €300 billion at the presentation of the bill, but in fact there is “only” an additional €8 billion. The bulk of the funds are to come from Commission sales of emission certificates from a reserve ahead of time, and from unused money of the 2020 EU “pandemic recovery” fund in the range of €225 billion.
