HERAKLION (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st May, 2022) Greeks surveyed by Sputnik are none too pleased with the European Union's latest energy scheme designed to move away from Russian resources, saying that it is untimely and could undermine peoples' lives since the price of energy is on the rise.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen presented on Wednesday the REPowerEU initiative � the bloc's plan to phase out Russian energy resources and increase the use of renewable energy.
According to the EU commission head, the bloc will increase its energy efficiency target for 2030 from 9% to 13%, as well as invest heavily in renewable energy. The EU is set to allocate 300 billion Euros ($315.4 billion) for the initiative.
Later, the EU published a statement about the REPowerEU where it reveals the plans to introduce "short-term behavioral changes" that could cut gas and oil demand by 5% encouraging European countries to take a set of specific measures targeting households and industry.
Meanwhile, in Greece people are casting a jaundiced eye on the latest Brussels energy plan, as many are trying to cope with the skyrocketing energy prices.
"I don't like it, I think with their decisions they are making our lives worse every day. They don't know in Brussels how hard it is for the everyday European citizen to cope with all those spikes in prices for food and energy. Myself, I have three kids and I am renting a flat. I can barely meet the end month needs," Manolis, a 52-year-old bus driver, said.
He went on to name high gas prices the biggest issue he faces in his daily life, saying they have driven bus fares up by 30-40% in the last 3 or 4 months.
"It is not even profitable anymore to do my job with diesel reaching 2 euros per liter. This is a chain, the increase to fuel cost is rolled to the passengers unfortunately as it is with almost every product or service recently," Manolis complained.
The driver expressed little optimism about the future, suggesting that high fuel prices will either prevent planes from flying or have tour operators charge clients two or three times more for holiday packages, thus dashing hopes for a record season this summer.
Nikos, a 34-year-old lawyer and political scientist, noted that the EU had been actively trying to implement the green agenda pretexts in recent years under various pretexts.
"For an entity like the EU with so many member states to transit to green energy it can take years of planning and perhaps decades of executing in order to effectively transit. Those are not plans that are implemented overnight like the von der Leyen frameworks suggest," Nikos said, adding that, in his opinion, "REpowerEU will have the same fate as many EU green energy transition initiatives; it will be gradually forgotten."
When asked about what should the bloc do to achieve energy security and combat high prices, Nikos said it should follow geopolitical reasoning and approach the closest area with large fossil fuel reserves, which in the case of Europe is Russia.
"EU should face the situation realistically. From a geopolitical point of view a superpower can't maintain this status unless it is energy independent," Nikos
This sentiment was echoed by Eleni, a 38-year-old microbiologist, who thinks that the EU should continue getting energy from Russia and transition to green energy later down the road.
"I don't think it's the right moment now for such decisions. There are so many problems already and I think the time now is not convenient for such a plan," Eleni stated.
Vaggelis, a 34-year-old chef, described the initiative as "another mistake the EU is making," explaining that it could devastate his industry since people could prefer not to dine out in order to save gas money.
"EU should have done nothing, just to continue to get energy from who they get already - Russia - as well to try and keep energy prices low, so we finally work after COVID and have some normal daily lives. Europeans cant take any longer all those extraordinary conditions they are experiencing in their daily lives, first the (COVID-19) pandemic and now this energy crisis, we need a break from all these," he concluded.
