Reaction to European Commission’s AccelerateEU plan to increase EU energy independence

To address rising energy costs and further reduce dependency on volatile fossil fuel markets, due to the escalating Middle East conflict, the Commission presented a comprehensive plan of actions and measures on 22 April 2026. An overview of the plan is available here.

 Italy’s PM Giorgia Meloni and Belgium’s PM Bart De Wever among those to voice scepticism at this week’s informal meeting of heads of state or government in Cyprus. In an article on the Euractiv website, Thomas Moller-Nielsen and Nicoletta Ionta discuss the plan and the reaction.

Von der Leyen’s Iran energy crisis plan falls flat with EU allies

EU leaders gathered in Cyprus on Thursday night to discuss Ursula von der Leyen’s plan to limit the economic havoc wrought by the Iran war – and not everyone liked what they saw.

“I certainly appreciate the proposal made by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on the issue of energy,” Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said, with a hint of dismissiveness, on her way into the gathering in the resort town of Ayia Napa. “It’s a step forward, but it’s not enough.”

The comments represented a rare rebuke by Italy’s far-right leader, who has cultivated a warm relationship with von der Leyen since coming to power in 2022.

Meloni’s remarks were echoed by Bart De Wever – though the reasons the Belgian prime minister gave for not liking the scheme differed.

“It never becomes very concrete,” said De Wever, whose N-VA Flemish nationalist party sits in the same European parliamentary group as Meloni’s Brothers of Italy.

De Wever expressed his dismay that the proposals should have included more sweeping revisions of the Emissions Trading System (ETS): the bloc’s flagship carbon tax scheme.

He also said that the European Commission should have proposed an EU-wide tax on windfall profits. “That’s not in it, and I think that’s a shame,” he said.

What’s in the plan

Twenty-four hours earlier, the EU executive had unveiled its plan to confront what Fatih Birol of the International Energy Agency has called “the world’s biggest energy crisis,” proposing tighter coordination among member countries on jet fuel and diesel supplies alongside targeted legislative tweaks, including changes to state aid rules.

Meloni meanwhile suggested that the EU executive’s plan should have come much earlier, with the two-month anniversary of the Iran war just days away. She also reiterated her call for the bloc’s fiscal rules to be suspended – a proposal repeatedly ruled out by Brussels.

“When you act too late, the price you pay is higher,” Meloni said.

The meeting in Ayia Napa, which lies at the eastern tip of the EU country closest to the Middle East, also came amid growing signs that the war in Iran could last much longer than previously anticipated – or hoped.

As leaders began their discussion, Donald Trump took to social media to reiterate his threat to resume bombing Iran. It also came amid reports that a third US aircraft carrier, the USS George HW Bush, had arrived in the Middle East.

“Iran’s Navy is lying at the bottom of the Sea, their Air Force is demolished, their Anti Aircraft and Radar Weaponry is gone, their leaders are no longer with us, the Blockade is airtight and strong and, from there, it only gets worse – Time is not on their side!” Trump wrote.

Last week, a meeting convened by Emmanuel Macron, the French president, and Keir Starmer, the British prime minister, to secure the Strait of Hormuz ended up highlighting divisions between France and Germany, primarily over US participation in a potential mission.

With EU leaders committed to not intervening to reopen the strategically critical waterway – which is now effectively subject to a double blockade by Iran and the US – until after the conflict is over, they instead called for de-escalation.

“I think what’s important is that the ceasefire can last,” said Macron in Cyprus.

De Wever was even more forthright. “You can hardly call that war against Iran a great success,” he said. “The economic consequences are very great, and they are especially for us… We want this to stop.”

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