Speeches

Madam President, many Members here must feel a bit like the firefighter who started the fire by his own behaviour. There are certainly more reasons for the rise in energy prices, but many of them are due to the erroneous decisions of this very Parliament. We are talking about a bad system of emission allowances, which raises the prices of electricity production. We are talking about a climate law and an abrupt retreat from the use of fossil fuels. We are talking about an irrational departure from nuclear power. All these steps are making energy production more expensive and limited, and we are now debating how to compensate citizens for this growth. This reminds me of Margaret Thatcher's famous statement: “When it moves, we tax it. If it's still moving, we'll regulate it. And when it stops moving, we will subsidise it.” Please think about it when putting forward further proposals that will have an equally devastating impact on our citizens.