Your Weekly RecapCost of Energy up 77%, 3 Million Children in Need of Aid in Pakistan

This week’s highlights: energy prices affecting your bill this winter, the devastating floods in Pakistan and the UN’s Report on Chinese Human Rights violations, as well as relevant geopolitical developments.

1. Energy prices will nearly double this winter.

• Minister for Energy Claude Turmes and Enovos, separately confirmed price increases of up to 77%. A press conference with the Prime Minister is happening later today.
• Enovos set up a website to help you save on your energy bill.
• The Government said it will evaluate the situation on a weekly basis, and the Green Party wants it to give financial aid to households.
• The entire Union is facing similar energy price hikes, and there’s no solution in sight yet.
• The European Commission did say it was working on an emergency package, and on long-term structural reforms of the electricity market. Urgent talks will be held in Brussels on 9 September.

Why is this happening? The current geopolitical context has made prices volatile.

How much more expensive? 10 times more expensive at wholesale. Until Summer 2021, the price per MWh ranged between €20 and €30, now it costs between €200 and €300.

A proposed new tram extension would enter the City Centre through Avenue de la Porte-Neuve.

© Christos Floros

2. François Bausch vowed that the tram won’t cross the City’s park.

• Following criticism, the Deputy PM addressed the mobility plan and assured that there is no intention to build a tram line through the municipal park.
• Green MP and Luxembourg City mayoral candidate François Benoy said the tram should cross Avenue de la Porte Neuve but that it can be done without removing any trees.

Context: In recent weeks, organisations and individuals, including Natur&Ëmwelt and René Kollwelter, had expressed concerns over the planned tram extension.

3. Floods in Pakistan killed thousands and destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes, affecting 33 million people.

• Floods in Pakistan killed more than 1,033 people after a record unbroken cycle of monsoon rains with “8 weeks of non-stop torrents”.
• This year’s floods were comparable to 2010 -- the worst on record -- when over 2,000 people died.
• The floods were so incredibly destructive, they caused the Indus River to overflow, creating a 100-kilometre wide lake.
• The UN appealed for € 159m in emergency funding. More than 3 million children are in need of humanitarian assistance.

4. The UN said China may have committed ‘Crimes Against Humanity’ in Xinjiang.

• The delayed UN report describes systemic Chinese abuse but stops short of using the word “genocide”.
• China called the report ‘completely illegal and void’
• For Uyghur activists, it was a vindication of their effort to draw attention to the situation in Xinjiang.

Why the delay? Gruelling objections from Beijing. It was unclear up until Wednesday whether Bachelet, the outgoing UN rights chief, would release it.

5. The latest Russia-Ukraine and relevant news.

• European ministers debated new restrictions on Russians entering the EU, deciding to suspend a visa facilitation agreement.
• A team of United Nations inspectors reached the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant on Thursday.
• Ukraine said it struck in Kherson as its forces pushed to regain Russian-held territory.
• Russia planned to take drastic measures to fill its military ranks.

And, Mikhail Gorbachev died. The West, including PM Xavier Bettel, remembered him for his work in achieving peace. Russians are divided over his legacy, one that was marked by the dismantling of the Soviet Union.

And in case you missed it:

• The European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved Covid-19 vaccines for the Omicron variant, paving the way for a booster campaign this winter.

• Poland’s government planned to ask Germany tonegotiate War Reparations, up to 1.3 trillion euros worth.

• The €9 rail and bus ticket Germany rolled out this summer brought nearly two million tonnes of savings in carbon emissions. Calls have been growing for the ultra-cheap fare to be carried into the autumn but some politicians and industry groups are calling for investments in personnel and infrastructure instead.