This winter promises to be difficult due to the energy crisis. The overall rise in the price of goods – clearly an international phenomenon – and of energy bills will burden the average household, and especially those in lower income brackets.

In that sense, the government’s initiatives to limit the repercussions and to protect citizens’ standard of living are in the right direction. They require speed, planning, and flexibility to absorb the new, burdensome shocks.

For example, the increase of the energy subsidy, including natural gas, is an immediate and correct measures, as is the change in income criteria for the eligibility of economically vulnerable groups, and subsidising energy bills with various discounts.

The government rightly announced that most of the hike in electricity bills will be covered by the state.

These discounts will temper the impact of price hikes, and the government’s comprehensive plan will provide a protective net for the hardest hit social groups at a time when we have a duty to protect social cohesion and peace.

That requires state intervention, and at a moment when the Public Power Corporation (PPC) is being restructured and the collective will to proceed is clear, it will provide yet another positive signal.

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