Bloomberg: European Commission will have to tell citizens the truth about the energy crisis

The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, must clearly and distinctly tell the people of the European Union that they are expecting a hard winter, which will require sacrifices in all the possible scenarios of any development of the energy crisis. This was stated by Bloomberg journalist Lionel Lauren.

The author of the article says that von der Leyen is facing a leadership test, because she needs to restore the trust of Europeans in their authorities, but to remain honest with them and say that it will be obvious that it will be difficult to survive the winter without Russian gas.

“Von der Leyen must tell citizens clearly that winter will require sacrifice and that energy consumption will have to be reduced by 10-15%. And she must also tell them that EU member states will do everything possible to share the costs and maximize supplies from non-Russian sources," Loren said.

The journalist also added that this cost sharing will lead to the cancellation of earlier decisions. For example, Germany will have to extend the operation of nuclear power plants, as the European Union needs "every last" source of energy in order not to leave factories and households without heating at all.

“To make such decisions, strong political leadership is required, which is not there, because the voices of heavyweights like Angela Merkel and Mario Draghi are no longer heard, and Olaf Scholz and Emmanuel Macron are listened to without attention. Von der Leyen has a chance to fill the gap, but she should not hesitate to declare a "state of emergency" across the EU," the author is sure.

However, the main problem suffering from the crisis in Europe, according to Lauren, is the distrust of the EU citizens.