The EU launches this legislature a Commissioner for Housing (and Energy, in the same portfolio) and the person in charge of the area will be Dan Jorgensen who this Tuesday underwent the ‘examination’ of the European Parliament. In your hearing before the MEPs, the Dane has promised “an affordable housing plan” at the Union level because he considers that “many things can be done” from the community point of view despite the fact that competition is in the hands of governments.
“Many of the challenges must be addressed in the Member States,” assumed Jorgensen, who is one of the social democratic profiles of the new European Commission and who does not seem to have problems completing the process and ending up confirmed by Parliament. In his explanation, the Dane pointed out that does not agree that families have to allocate around 40% of their income to housing. “It’s too much,” he said with data on the table.
Another of Jorgensen’s commitments is to end homelessness. Right now in the EU there are a million homeless people and assumes the “complex reasons” for this phenomenon; but he wants to end this problem by 2030, as he developed. “Housing has become a commodity, and therefore also something that can be speculated on,” acknowledged the future commissioner, that expects greater collaboration from the real estate sectorto whom he asks “not to think only about economic benefits” because, he warned, “that is not a good long-term strategy.”
“We need investors to put money into the housing sector, but I am afraid that too often they focus on profits and profits in the short term and not necessarily what is best for societies,” the Dane developed in response to questions from MEPs, while acknowledging the certain negative effects of tourism on the rental marketan issue that is especially in vogue in Spain. Jorgensen wants “people with normal incomes, like nurses, police officers, teachers, to be able to afford access to those homes” that are now destined for short-term rentals.
Nuclear energy is “necessary” right now
Regarding the Energy area, he promised to “continue lowering prices” for both industry and homes. Advocated for fully achieving Russia’s energy independence, while decarbonizing the energy mix. In this sense, the Dane recognized that many Europeans are concerned about the transition to a low-carbon economy and proposed focusing on the fight against energy poverty. It also pledged to boost the deployment of renewable energy through faster authorization procedures, expand energy networks, develop interconnectors, boost carbon capture and storage (CCS) and new storage technologies.
During the debate, MEPs stated that the EU industry is under great pressure and highlighted the challenge of meeting existing targets and regulations. Thus, Jorgensen responded that a Greater access to cheaper energy does not necessarily mean more regulationsbut rather the opposite. There the former minister was in favor of substantially reducing the bureaucracy that weighs on the industry, especially in terms of permits.
Several MEPs asked the nominated commissioner about his stance on nuclear energy and to what extent the Commission intends to support this technology, whether for small modular reactors (SMR) or larger reactors. Jorgensen stated that, although the EU will respect the energy mix of each country, nuclear energy will be necessary to achieve the climate transition and will form part of the Commission’s clean energy plans. However, he warned against increasing European dependence on the nuclear industry and fuel-related foreign supply chains, which may also be linked to Russia.
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