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Europe
2022: The Year Food and Energy Security Fears Hit Europe
2022-12-28
[Breitbart] With Ukraine in flames and the EU green agenda in pieces, 2022 was the year that fears over food and energy security once again hit Europe.

Brussels, Belgium, December 12 2022. Ursula von der Leyen takes to the stage alongside International Energy Agency head Fatih Birol to diuscuss the energy situation of her European Union heading into 2023.

Put simply, things did not look good.

While the European Commission President tried to spin it that the EU had successfully managed to negotiate its dire energy situation so far, and that it would continue doing so next year, the actual statistics dropped by the bloc leader were stark. Even taking into account some of the extreme energy-saving measures put in place across the union this year, the fact of the matter is that the European Union is expected to have a gas shortfall in the region of tens of billions of cubic meters next year. Even worse, no one is quite sure yet how exactly this shortfall is going to be avoided.

Though seriously bad news for the bloc’s member states, the news is far from unexpected. Since the war in Ukraine along with the concomitant sanctions saw the bloc’s access to Russian natural gas disrupted, the entirety of 2022 has been punctuated by warnings from across the continent that Europe is going to struggle with its energy situation for many years to come. Back in August, the Belgian energy minister, Tinne Van der Straeten, predicted that the EU would see five to ten “terrible” winters if radical action is not taken. Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron, whose country is actually in a stronger position than most of its neighbours due to its abundance of nuclear reactors, ominously warned his people that they were now facing the “end of abundance” in their country.

But how did things get so bad? What went so horribly wrong that fears over rolling blackouts and energy rationing are now a regular talking point within European states that had once ruled the world?

While the answer to this question is multifaceted, the first place we need to look is at Europe’s obsession with climate change.
And then the details, at length: 11.5% inflation, fuel costs for years going forward ten times what they were before, Green agenda silliness making everything worse, and while this year domestic gas storage was filled before winter, it will be much harder and more expensive to repeat after stores are drawn down next March.
Despite all these problems, much of Europe has opted to continue doubling down on green agenda policies, despite them often being criticised as being of little help when it comes to solving the problems at hand. Germany is still set to shut down its nuclear power plants, while Ireland and the Netherlands continue to push through Brussels green projects to the detriment of their farmers.

Some in the bloc have rebelled. Viktor Orbán’s Hungary, for instance, has taken the decision energy is more important than politics, and to the shock of many signed new deals with Russia for the purchase of even more gas. Other nations have looked towards Liquified Natural Gas imports from the likes of the United States and Qatar as being a possible panacea, but, as a recent corruption scandal ravaging the European Parliament has shown, this too comes with its own problems.

Overall, there seems to be very little appetite to actually expand domestic fossil fuel production in the EU. While many countries in the union have significant stores of natural gas and oil that could fuel their countries for decades should they decide to harvest them, so far, green activist politicians have overwhelmingly fought for such hydrocarbons to be kept in the ground.
Posted by:Skidmark

#7  ...seems like it will not end well.

People that walked or bought their way across 1000s of miles of harsh terrain, 'rough' sleeping, carrying their children against flavored coffee sipping, vaping man buns.

I think I see how that will turn out.
Posted by: Skidmark   2022-12-28 12:39  

#6  Importing a vast number of military age males and then cutting off their food supply seems like it will not end well.
Posted by: Super Hose   2022-12-28 12:03  

#5  Read this morning their gas reserves are still at 90%.

Of course, I read it in a "news" article...
Posted by: M. Murcek   2022-12-28 08:34  

#4  Bundle Up, Germany. 2024 Could be a Long Winter.
Posted by: DarthVader   2022-12-28 08:32  

#3  Just wait until 2024. That is the year where most of these bills come due.
Posted by: DarthVader   2022-12-28 08:09  

#2  What's the old saying? Put Socialists in charge of the Sahara and it would have a sand shortage.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2022-12-28 07:00  

#1  Farmer predicts worse food shortages, higher prices in 2023 amid inflation, drought, interests rate hikes
Posted by: Skidmark   2022-12-27 14:41  

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