The European Fee president did her finest to obfuscate each the actual trigger and the actual affect of the renewable power agenda
It’s onerous to inform if she’s blaming him or crediting him, however European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen advised a gathering of the Paris-based Group of Financial Cooperation and Growth (OECD) on February thirteenth that “[Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s try and blackmail our union has totally failed. Quite the opposite, he actually pushed the inexperienced transition.”
The phrase “pushed” is telling – and projecting. As a result of that’s precisely what she’s been doing – evoking Putin to govern EU residents into acceptance of a worthwhile system of greenwashed authoritarianism. Putin’s been a busy man right here in Europe recently. Simply the opposite week, he was apparently pushing Europe’s farmers and their tractors onto highways.
Why does Queen Ursula all the time need to sound so shady? “Final yr, in 2023, for the primary time ever, we produced extra electrical energy from wind than from fuel,” she stated. What number of methods did her battle-hardened brigade of bureaucratic paper-cut Purple Hearts need to parse the info to provide you with that vivid spot? As a result of the reality is that, at 37% of the EU’s electrical energy, renewables are nonetheless solely only a half a p.c extra prevalent than fossil fuels at 36.5%, in response to the EU’s personal knowledge – and that actually hasn’t modified a lot over the previous a number of years.
And it’s not like wind, at 13% of the bloc’s electrical manufacturing, is doing the heavy lifting in powering Europe’s business when 60% of its power continues to be imported, most of which is from fossil fuels. If wind and photo voltaic have been really able to sustaining European business, then why was the economic system minister of the bloc’s financial engine, Germany, bragging to residents that he was doing his half to stay it to Russian President Vladimir Putin by taking ever shorter showers? Why did I personally need to freeze my arsch off at among the native swimming swimming pools in Berlin final month because the water temperature plunged to accommodate an power austerity plan if wind was such a panacea?
Germany is the canary within the coal mine for the EU inexperienced transition, having gone all-in, and clearly wind and photo voltaic weren’t prepared for prime time when a budget Russian fuel faucet was successfully turned off – first via the EU’s personal anti-Russian sanctions that sophisticated cost for gross sales, then when it was blown up altogether.
This is the reason the German economic system is taking successful, with the nation’s personal nationwide statistics workplace now qualifying the financial atmosphere as “marked by a number of crises,” as final yr’s GDP dropped by 0.3%, with excessive power costs as one of many high contributing elements. If mighty gusts of wind may singlehandedly forestall German deindustrialization as business bails to much less fantasy-powered jurisdictions, then Queen Ursula’s speeches alone would have lengthy since accomplished the job.
On this newest one, von der Leyen laments the Russian president’s try and “blackmail” Europe with fossil fuels whereas on the identical time saying that no matter’s left of them can’t disappear quick sufficient. If that looks as if a contradiction, it’s. The reality is that Putin simply served as a handy pretext for one thing that Brussels had lengthy wished to do anyway, however was prevented from doing due to the way it feared the typical EU citizen would react.
It’s now apparent what the affect of the inexperienced transition is on inflation as power prices have skyrocketed. If the EU had pulled a stunt like this by merely caving to Washington’s relentless insistence that it renege on Nord Stream pipeline fuel, telling Europeans that it was pivoting to far pricier US liquified pure fuel – no less than till it may determine use the fundamental components of earth to stay like a developed nation utilizing ways from the Stone Age – individuals would have gone ballistic and questioned what the heck was actually occurring.
Putin got here alongside simply in time to rescue the transition from the rising skepticism of the climate-change excuse, fueling reputation for the right-wing populist events calling the Brussels institution out for its use of it to govern residents into compliance with their agenda.
What agenda, precisely? Income, at the start. Ask the farmers at present protesting all throughout Europe towards a heavy-handed Brussels paperwork put into place that more and more controls their manufacturing utilizing all the pieces from local weather change insurance policies that put valuable farmland into the state’s palms via buyouts of local weather change coverage offenders, to pro-Ukraine commerce insurance policies that crush home manufacturing in favor of Ukraine’s Western-backed company Huge Farming, like Bayer, Monsanto, Cargill, and DuPont.
When the Ukraine battle went sizzling, Queen Ursula simply substituted Putin for the climate-change excuse, then saved hammering the necessity to plough money into renewable power initiatives that simply occur to be dominated by European and American massive finance and their buyers, like US protection contractor Normal Electrical, Germany’s BASF, Shell, and BP. Von der Leyen dropped a touch herself that every one that is about not desirous to share the pie exterior of her espresso klatch.
“The previous fossil gasoline economic system is all about dependencies. The brand new clear power economic system is all about inter-dependencies,” she stated, mentioning that “clear power will be produced anyplace.” And meaning with the ability to preserve the income amongst your mates and supporters. Fascinating that she used the time period “inter-dependencies” moderately than “independence.” You’d assume that nationwide sovereignty can be a superb factor. However apparently not when it may imply a rustic with the ability to inform Brussels to bugger off.
Each local weather change and nationwide safety are worthwhile causes, at the start. They need to simply be trustworthy about that moderately than attempting to hard-sell it with virtue-signaling and bogeymen. However it’s the elevated authoritarianism to regulate emissions or the ever present “Russian risk” by introducing insurance policies and instruments that can be used to quash home dissent, which can be much more troubling. And for Brussels that appears to be a pleasant bonus.
All of it smacks of elevated supranational consolidation and management over a system that’s being reoriented to revenue members of a sure political caste and their cronies. And so they’re apparently prepared to make use of no matter fearmongering they determine works finest to subdue the lots into compliance. Putin ought to actually begin charging look charges for being always used of their promoting.
The statements, views and opinions expressed on this column are solely these of the creator and don’t essentially characterize these of RT.
