mr president there are going to be radical changes in the way the eu produces and consumes its energy
this has been based on a three-pronged strategy by the commission security of supply sustainability and competitiveness
but the commission left out a fundamental part of this important debate namely the issue of affordability
since the publication of the green paper on energy socialists in this parliament have been asking for consumers to be put right back into the driving seat
we want to see energy poverty as a part of this debate
so far in the eu there are no national definitions and there is no data collection so we have no idea of the scale of this problem
we know that energy prices have been rising exponentially and they are hitting the most vulnerable in our society the hardest
i would like to give fair warning to the council that in the negotiations on the electricity and gas directives that we are about to begin the issue of energy poverty will be fundamental to our agreement
we are not going to step on your toes
we are asking for domestic action on this not community action but we do expect action for the poorest people in the eu on energy poverty
