EU's energy price losses climb to €127 billion this year
Von der Leyen linked the losses to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and urged a faster shift away from fossil fuels.
EU losses from higher energy prices have reached €127 billion this year, up from €106 billion in mid-October, Russia's state news agency TASS reported on Tuesday.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen gave the figure at a technology conference in Brussels.
She said imported fossil fuels had cost Europe an extra €127 billion since the Strait of Hormuz closed, "without a single additional molecule of energy."
Von der Leyen argued that importing oil and gas exposes the bloc to "the shocks and crises that come with them," and said her plan to phase out carbon-based fuels was the right path.
The agency also reported that the physical volume of EU oil and gas imports has fallen this year.
Von der Leyen cited an EU summit on Oct. 16, when the figure stood at €106 billion, and urged member states to speed up the move to alternative energy sources.
She reaffirmed the commission's goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and pledged continued support for investors in green energy.
Last week, EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen backed a rise in the bloc's oil refining capacity for the first time in a decade, amid a diesel crisis across member states, calling the step temporary.
Jorgensen maintained that the EU has no intention of revising its long-term plan to phase out oil.
