European Commissioner for Energy and Housing Dan Jørgensen has warned that the lives of young Europeans could, for the first time in a long while, turn out worse than those of their parents. According to him, the main causes are the housing and energy crises, which make basic expenses increasingly unaffordable.
“In Europe, in a normal winter, almost 50 million people have difficulty paying their heating bills. If a person cannot pay for heating, they essentially have to choose between not eating and freezing,” Jørgensen said in an interview with the Hungarian publication 444.
According to European Commission data, even in a normal winter about 47 million people face difficulties paying for heating — almost one in ten EU residents. This year the commissioner expects there will be even more of them due to rising energy prices.
Jørgensen called the coming winter difficult for citizens and businesses. He linked the risks to Europe’s dependence on fuel imports, instability of the global market and a shortage of energy resources: the less supply, the higher the prices.
The situation is aggravated by the housing crisis, which the European commissioner called “an emergency.” He admitted that politicians, including himself, in previous years probably did not take the problem of housing and energy affordability seriously enough.
Earlier Jørgensen warned that the authorities’ inability to solve the price problem could strengthen the positions of populists and far-right parties. According to him, if people cannot pay for basic needs and see a decline in their standard of living, this creates “a gloomy picture of the future.”
The European Commission proposes targeted and temporary support for the most vulnerable households and businesses, while maintaining the course toward abandoning dependence on imported fossil fuels. Jørgensen did not name specific amounts or a list of measures in the interview.
