On the eve of an EU summit centering on the energy crisis, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told legislators that since the bloc imports 90 per cent of its gas much of it from strategic rival Russia this makes us vulnerable.

As a result she wants the EU to double down on a swift transition to clean energy from wind and sun, which can be domestically produced and will ultimately be a lot cheaper than imported fossil fuels. But von der Leyen equally hit the theme of strategic importance to be less reliant on imports. Even if a partner country like Norway upgraded its exports to the bloc to meet the increased demand, one major player did not.

While (Russia’s) Gazprom has honoured its long term contracts with us, it did not respond to higher demand, as it did in previous years. So Europe is today too reliant on gas, she said. It was a veiled reference to leaders such as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has specifically blamed the hike in energy prices on the European Commission’s Green Deal plans. The project aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 55 per cent by 2030 and making the bloc carbon neutral by 2050.