Responding to the impact of the situation in Iran: The EU has launched the "Accelerating EU" energy plan, increasing efforts to ensure energy security and betting on the electrification transformation.

The EU has announced a series of measures, such as optimizing aviation fuel distribution, as part of a plan to address the energy crisis triggered by the Iran war. The plan, called "AccelerateEU", was announced by the European Commission on Wednesday and aims to provide member states with tools to curb rising energy prices, address potential fuel shortages, without harming EU climate goals or triggering harmful competition between countries. Its long-term goal is to avoid future fossil fuel shocks through economic electrification. From the current market situation, European natural gas prices have been fluctuating around key support levels after experiencing early sharp increases. Although the US and Iran have entered into some form of strategic standoff, resulting in some convergence in price fluctuations in the short term, the reality of the "blockade" still looms over European industry like a sword of Damocles. This apparent stability masks the deep distortion in the supply-demand structure, especially as the restructuring of the global liquefied natural gas (LNG) logistics chain has led to an additional several hundred billion euros in EU fossil fuel import bills. The core purpose of the policy package introduced by the EU this time is to use the current fluctuation in the market to mitigate the ongoing erosion of the real economy through administrative and fiscal means. Although the situation currently facing the EU is less severe than the natural gas price surge crisis triggered by the escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the crisis this time may have a more profound impact on affected commodities categories and on the global economy. EU member states have taken actions to minimize the impact of rising prices on the public and businesses. EU Climate Commissioner Vopak Hooksra stated in an interview: "Compared to three months ago, more people realize that the only way out is to closely integrate climate competitiveness with energy independence. We need to achieve energy independence as soon as possible." In terms of short-term market security, the European Commission has clearly identified the optimization of aviation fuel distribution among member states as a top priority and plans to introduce specific regulations next month to ensure the smooth operation of key sectors such as civil aviation during shortages. Meanwhile, regarding the security of natural gas reserves, the EU has reiterated the flexibility of gas storage targets, allowing member states to reduce their storage targets by 10 to 15 percentage points from the 90% base, in order to reduce the fiscal risk of forcibly replenishing stocks at current high prices while ensuring the safety of the heating season. In the long term, the EU is stepping up efforts to promote economic electrification to weaken the control of fossil fuels on the overall energy system. In the coming months, the EU will introduce an electrification strategy and legislative proposals to ensure that electricity taxes are lower than those on oil and gas. EU leaders will discuss this plan at a meeting in Cyprus over the next two days. The European Commission will also submit a list of measures to reduce the demand for fossil fuels before the informal ministerial meeting next month. As of now, the Iran war has increased EU fossil fuel spending by 24 billion euros ($28 billion). It is worth noting that this plan marks a strategic shift in EU nuclear energy policy, with nuclear power officially elevated to a core position in maintaining "strategic autonomy". The European Commission has explicitly recommended that member states postpone the decommissioning plans of existing nuclear power plants and committed to simplifying the approval process for the nuclear fuel supply chain to mitigate the vulnerability of the traditional oil and gas supply chain. Furthermore, the EU has also launched a highly geopolitical energy diplomacy, signing "green deals" agreements with non-Gulf suppliers such as Norway, Nigeria, and Algeria, to exchange long-term clean energy technology investments for priority access to short-term natural gas supplies, especially through the Mediterranean Energy Corridor enhancement project, aiming to significantly increase the flow of African gas sources into Europe by the end of the year. To maintain the resilience of the real economy, the EU has set up a refined "national aid framework" for fiscal subsidies, allowing member states to provide temporary assistance of up to 80% of energy cost increases to severely affected companies. To prevent wealthy member states from excessively subsidizing and causing market imbalances, the policy sets strict profit thresholds and green investment requirements, requiring large assisted enterprises to reinvest the subsidy amounts in future carbon neutral transformations. By deeply integrating climate competitiveness with energy independence, the EU is trying to use fiscal leverage to force electricity taxes to be lower than oil and gas costs, accelerating the strategic leap from fossil fuel dependence to universal electrification in the midst of the Iran war.