MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION BY THE COMMITTEE ON INDUSTRY, RESEARCH AND ENERGY (ITRE)

Houses Warm, Wallets Empty: Aer Russia's withdrawal and exclusion from the European energy market in 2022 caused consumer prices and energy company profits to skyrocket, highlighting Europe's geopolitical dependency on fossil fuels from authoritarian states, how can the EU guarantee affordable energy for all without running out of supply?

Submitted by: Brian Chirio (Tampereen yhteiskoulun lukio), Defne Çolak (TR), Alexandra Filipova (European School of Helsinki), Arthur Heinonen (European School of Helsinki), Emilie Huotari (Helsingin ranskalais-suomalainen koulu), Oran Lafferty (IE), Michael Meenan (IE), Alma Milivić (Tampereen lyseon lukio), Florence Willich (CH), Milana Ševo (Chairperson, RS)

The European Youth Parliament aims to lower the energy prices, while ensuring that sufficient amounts of affordable energy are readily available in all Member States by reforming and regulating the energy market. We aspire to meet our energy transition goals by investing in renewable energy and research. In addition, we desire to promote efficient energy usage to diminish energy consumption. It is our goal for the EU to become more self-sufficient, but still maintain the balance through enhanced trade with non-authoritarian states, because:

A. The EU is vastly dependent on fossil fuel imports from non-EU countries,

B. Roughly 75% of the building stock in the EU is energy inefficient, producing large amounts of energy waste,

C. The EU has failed to establish sufficient mechanisms to promote large-scale investment in renewable energy research,

D Current energy prices are unaffordable for many low-income households, as well as small businesses,

Turku 2023 – National Session of the European Youth Parliament Finland General Assembly, 10 April 2023

E. The existing energy market framework is not compatible with the evolving geopolitical landscape,

F. Renewable energy remains an underutilised resource within urban environments,

G There is an absence of import infrastructure for the cross-border movement of energy, resulting in an insufficient number of energy providers,

H. Insufficient energy storage infrastructure impedes the effective retention of plentiful renewable energy resources;

The European Youth Parliament,

1 Appeals to the European Commission to introduce legislation that would require businesses to reduce energy consumption in commercial settings during non-business hours;

2. Seeks that the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB), as a partner in the InvestEU project, allocates funds for the renovation of residential buildings with the aim of improving heating, insulation and energy efficiency;

3 Calls upon the European Commission to fund the research and growth of green energy industries by: a. allocating funding by utilising existing resources such as the Recover y and Resilience Facility (RRF), b. taxing superprofits among energy providers; 10

4. Endorses the European Commission to support new partnerships with energy provider countries while supporting the development of new energy import infrastructure;

5. Requests Horizon Europe to invest in EU-situated research aiming to aid the 11 development of renewable energy sources and their implementation on a larger scale;

6. Suggests Member States to reform to the current energy market and prevent the overpricing of energy by: a. establishing a common minimal tax rate for taxing superprofits,

10 Superprofits refer to above-average enterprise profits, caused by an exceptional and unpredicted situation in the economy beyond the control of the enterprise.

11 Horizon Europe is the EUʼs key funding programme for research and innovation with a budget of EUR 95.5 billion

Turku 2023 – National Session of the European Youth Parliament Finland General Assembly, 10 April 2023 b. subsidising the price of gas to reduce the wholesale price of electricity;

7. Trusts the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) to expand the use of Contracts for Difference (CfDs) among Member States; 12

8 Strongly encourages Member States to promote the capacity market system to 13 guarantee a stable supply of energy;

9. Further encourages Member States to increase the use of renewable energies that are best available for production in the specific countr y, for example, geothermal energy in Finland;

10. Advises Member States to create new gas import agreements with various countries to avoid the dependence on a singular supplier

12 Contract for Difference (CfD) is a subsidy model in which both positive and negative deviations from a fixed reference price are paid out to the contractual partner

13 In capacity markets, large energy consumers, such as national governments, pay energy providers today in exchange for a promise to have the necessar y infrastructure for producing a certain amount of energy in the future

Turku 2023 – National Session of the European Youth Parliament Finland General Assembly, 10 April 2023