BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union countries must funnel their energy aid chiefly to vulnerable households and industries or risk wasting billions of euros as the Iran war hits oil and gas prices, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned on Wednesday.
The U.S.-Israel war, combined with retaliation from Iran such as choking the Strait of Hormuz, is costing the EU almost 500 million euros ($600 million) a day, raising prices at the pumps and fears of a jet fuel shortage within weeks.
Von der Leyen said the world’s biggest trading bloc must draw on the lessons of the 2022 fuel crisis – when Russia used its energy might against European countries to undermine their support for Ukraine – to avoid further hurting their economies.
More than 350 billion euros “were spent on untargeted measures and this had a huge impact on member states finances,” she told EU lawmakers in Strasbourg, France. “So let us not make the same mistake again, and let’s focus our support where it matters most.”
Just as Europe broke its energy dependency on Russia, the bloc must now end its reliance on supplies from the outside world, by making better use of renewable sources like wind and solar, as well as nuclear power, von der Leyen said.
“Our over dependency on imported fossil fuels makes us vulnerable,” she said.
Since the war started in 2022, Russian gas imports into the 27 nations have fallen from 45% to 12% last year. Coal imports were banned by sanctions, and oil imports shrank from 27% 2022 to 2%, with only Hungary and Slovakia continuing to buy from Russia.
Von der Leyen said the impact of the Iran war “may echo for months or even years to come” and that the path to energy independence lies in “homegrown, affordable, clean energy supply from renewables to nuclear.”
She urged EU countries to use more electricity generated by renewable sources and nuclear sources to power transport and planes, heat homes, and undercut the dependency on fossil fuels in industry.
Electricity makes up less than a quarter of the bloc’s energy consumption.
EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen warned last week that the Iran war has not just produced “a short-term, small increase in prices. This is a crisis that is probably as serious as the 1973 and the 2022 crises combined.”
He said Europe has been forced onto the defensive and has little control over events.
“Even in a best-case scenario, it’s still bad,” Jørgensen said. “Whether or not we will be in a security of supply crisis is primarily a result of what goes on in the Middle East. What we can do is to try and prevent, and limit” the damage.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, center, arrives for the EU Summit in Nicosia, Cyprus, Friday, April 24, 2026. (Yves Herman, Pool Photo via AP)
Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides, center, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, left, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen pose after signing the "One Europe, One Market" roadmap during the EU Summit in Nicosia, Cyprus, Friday, April 24, 2026. (Yves Herman, Pool Photo via AP)
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a press conference after the EU Summit in Nicosia, Cyprus, Friday, April 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean appeals court on Wednesday sentenced ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol to seven years in prison for resisting arrest and bypassing a legitimate Cabinet meeting before his brief imposition of martial law in December 2024.
The conviction for obstruction of justice and other charges comes on top of a life sentence he has already received on rebellion charges stemming from his baffling authoritarian push, which triggered the most serious crisis for the country’s democracy in decades.
Judge Yoon Sung-sik of the Seoul High Court said the conservative former president sidestepped a legally mandated full Cabinet meeting before declaring martial law, falsified documents to conceal the lapse, and deployed security officials “like a private army” to resist law enforcement efforts to arrest him in the weeks following his impeachment. Former President Yoon stood quietly as the verdict was delivered and made no comment.
Yoo Jeong-hwa, one of Yoon’s lawyers, called the verdict “very disappointing” and said the legal team would appeal to the Supreme Court. Yoon has also appealed his life sentence.
A lower court in January sentenced Yoon to five years in prison but partially cleared him of abuse-of-power charges tied to the Cabinet meeting ahead of the martial law declaration, finding he was not responsible for the failure to attend of two members who were invited.
The Seoul High Court reversed that acquittal, finding him guilty on all counts and ruling that he violated the rights of those two as well as seven other Cabinet members who weren’t notified by convening only a select few to simulate a formal meeting.
Though brief, Yoon’s Dec. 3, 2024, martial law decree threw the country into a severe political crisis, paralyzing politics and high-level diplomacy and rattling financial markets. The turmoil eased only after his liberal rival, Lee Jae Myung, won an early presidential election in June.
Yoon was suspended from office on Dec. 14, 2024, after being impeached by the liberal-led legislature and was formally removed by the Constitutional Court in April 2025.
Following his suspension from office, he refused to comply with a Seoul court's warrant to detain him for questioning, setting up a standoff in which dozens of investigators arrived at the presidential residence in early January 2025 but were blocked by presidential security forces and vehicle barricades. He was detained later that month, released by another court in March, and was then re-arrested in July.
He remained in custody after that as a series of criminal trials, which are continuing, began.
Wednesday’s ruling came a day after the same court increased to four years the sentence of Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon Hee, for charges including accepting luxury gifts from the Unification Church, which sought political favors from Yoon’s government, and involvement in a stock price manipulation scheme.
Prosecutors in a separate trial last week also requested a 30-year prison term for Yoon over allegations that he deliberately tried to escalate tensions with North Korea in 2024 by ordering drone flights over Pyongyang as he sought to create justifiable conditions for martial law at home.
FILE - South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol attends a hearing of his impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court in Seoul, South Korea, Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, Pool, File)
A supporter of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol holds up his portrait during a rally outside of the Seoul High Court in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol stage a rally outside of the Seoul High Court in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Supporters of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol stage a rally outside of the Seoul High Court in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, April 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
