As far back as last April — nearly half a year earlier — at the Delphi Forum, the President and CEO of AKTOR Group, Alexandros Exarchos, had already issued warnings directed at the relevant European authorities regarding Europe’s energy supply crisis. Five months later, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, addressing the European Parliament on the “State of the Union,” spoke to that very issue — acknowledging that Europe remains dangerously unprepared to deal with the ongoing energy crisis.
The failure to secure long-term agreements for American LNG supplies at the European level — something Exarchos had predicted — was indirectly but clearly acknowledged by the Commission President herself, as evidenced by her address to Parliament.
LNG crisis: Exarchos’s warning and Von der Leyen’s admission
“Families and industries are paying the price of a crisis that goes far beyond our borders. And this could intensify as we head into winter. In the short term, we must support member states in responding to immediate pressures. But in the medium and long term, we must continue to address the structural issues that leave us exposed to volatile international fossil fuel markets. That is why we must invest in our resilience,” von der Leyen stated, effectively acknowledging that Europe is facing a very difficult winter ahead.
It is worth noting that Alexandros Exarchos had, months earlier, warned of the looming difficulties in the energy sector with the following words: “I expect a serious shortage in the supply of liquefied natural gas in Europe, and this, in my opinion, will create significant inflationary pressures across Europe.”
