“For the second time in less than five years, Europeans are paying the price of Europe’s dependency on imported fossil fuels”. AccelerateEU is the Commission’s toolbox, presented in Brussels today, aimed at bringing “immediate relief to European households and industries, especially the most vulnerable ones, while putting Europe on a steady pathway to energy independence”. Since the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, the EU – according to the Commission’s estimates – has spent an additional €24 billion on energy imports due to higher prices “without receiving a single extra molecule of energy”. “The current geopolitical situation is a stark reminder that accelerating the transition to clean, secure and affordable energy is an economic and security imperative”. “AccelerateEU” presents both short-term and structural measures “with longer-term effect to further reduce dependency on volatile fossil fuel markets”. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said: “The choices we make today will shape our ability to face the challenges of today and the crises of tomorrow. Our AccelerateEU strategy will bring both immediate and more structural relief measures to European citizens and businesses. We must accelerate the shift to homegrown, clean energies. This will give us energy independence and security, and mean we are better able to weather geopolitical storms”.