The European Commission announces five steps to curbing energy prices

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen reported on the adoption of the program.

On Wednesday, September 7, the European Commission proposed a program to stabilize energy prices. More precisely — to prevent their further growth. In total, it will include five steps. The implementation of which will be further discussed with the bloc members.

The first and, perhaps, the most important step is the limitation of the Russian gas’ upper price threshold. According to Ms von der Leyen, the European Union should cut «Russia’s revenue, which Putin uses to finance this brutal war against Ukraine» as much as possible.

The second step relates to consumption. Electricity usage in peak hours should be reduced, the politician says.

The third step concerns high-profit companies operating on fossil fuels. They will have to pay the so-called «solidarity contribution». In other words, there will be an additional tax for high-income businesses.

The fourth step will target companies that use Russian gas for goals other, than electricity production. The European Commission proposes to put a cap on their income. How and in what form this might be implemented hasn’t been reported yet.

The final step of this program will continue to focus on companies with excess profits. The European Commission proposes to redirect the fossil fuel companies’ record profits to support people and organizations in need of aid. At its core, this is similar to the third step.

Ursula von der Leyen did not name specific dates for the implementation of this project. The mechanism for bringing it into action remains unclear. We will follow new developments on this story, as it unfolds.