EU facing ‘second big wake-up call’ on energy, Irish Minister Darragh O’Brien says

As Europe struggles to contain the fallout from the Middle East crisis, Ireland’s Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment Darragh O’Brien has sounded the alarm on what he calls the EU’s “second big wake-up call.” The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has exposed a critical vulnerability in Europe’s energy dependence: not just supply, but price.

Ireland’s fossil fuel reserves are robust enough to withstand the current crisis, but O’Brien is right to warn that direct subsidies for low-income families can only provide short-term relief. These fixes become increasingly unsustainable as the situation drags on. Governments cannot indefinitely prop up citizens against rising prices; ultimately, they need a long-term solution.

The EU’s predicament echoes its response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 – another wake-up call that left the bloc reeling. The numbers are stark: an additional €24 billion spent on energy imports since the start of the Iran war, with EU imports of Russian liquefied natural gas up 16 percent in the first quarter of this year, reaching a record high.

The EU’s addiction to imported fossil fuels is not just a matter of supply and demand. O’Brien concedes that increasing reliance on Russia is “not the way forward,” but believes efforts on renewables and electrification are underway – albeit too slowly. The real question is whether these initiatives can be accelerated quickly enough to mitigate the impact of future disruptions.

History suggests this might not be a one-off crisis, but rather a pattern of vulnerability. Consider Brexit, the pandemic, the Ukraine war, trade tensions with the US, and now the Middle East conflict: six major shocks in less than a decade. The EU needs to take stock of these experiences and prepare for when – not if – the next crisis hits.

Preparing better means diversifying energy sources, investing in renewable technologies, and accelerating the transition away from fossil fuels. This will require more than just incremental changes; it demands a fundamental transformation of Europe’s energy landscape. O’Brien’s warning should be heeded: the EU must recognize that its dependence on imported fossil fuels is not a temporary aberration but a permanent feature of an increasingly unstable world.

The stakes are high, and so is the pressure on policymakers to act decisively. The coming weeks will show whether the EU can put words into action or if it will continue to rely on short-term fixes that only mask the symptoms of its underlying addiction.