European Council President Antonio Costa called Wednesday for the European Union to invest more deeply in renewables or nuclear power, saying this is the bloc’s strongest bet to avoid energy shocks in a less predictable world.

“The only structural solution for Europe is to develop [its] home-grown sources to produce energy,” Costa told an annual forum in Delphi. “Renewables, nuclear, [it] doesn’t matter. We … should – we must – produce our own energy. If not, we are always exposed to risks of disruption.”

“It is a matter of our own security and that must be one of the main priorities,” he added.

Costa also said the EU must invest deeper in energy grids, adopting smarter versions, and seek more efficient ways of using energy.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who participated in a panel discussion with Costa, said that while Greece has no such capacity yet nuclear power production must be a key element of Europe’s energy mix.

“We need to double down on those industries where we can actually create homegrown strategic autonomy,” he said. “And we need to do it in nuclear … We need to be ruthlessly pragmatic. And we need to understand that nuclear will be part of the solution.”

He also urged an EU “plan B” should the crisis in the Persian Gulf persist, arguing that no country would be in a position to single-handedly deal with a potential steep rise in energy prices, a scarcity of fertilizers and a rise in inflation.

Costa stressed the need for international law to be respected, saying that the alternative is chaos. He added that Iran can “never, ever” acquire a nuclear weapon, its ballistic missile programme must be controlled and the freedom of navigation must be respected in the Strait of Hormuz.

The EU leader also took great pains to avoid overt criticism of the US, saying it’s still Europe’s priority to maintain “good relations” with Washington.

“Sometimes we don’t agree,” he said. “We don’t have now clearly the same vision about [the] importance [of preserving] a multilateral system. We don’t have now the same vision about the importance [of upholding] international law.”

“We have our own style,” Costa added. “We respect the style of the United States. But our main goal is to de-escalate, to avoid tensions, to [not] react to each tweet with the other tweet. And we keep calm and we will continue.”

Source: Ekathimerini.com