Europeans will head to the polls in June this year and cast their vote to elect Members of European Parliament who will be in office until 2029. In this decisive decade for our climate and energy commitments, these elections are of the utmost importance. All signs point to the need to accelerate the energy transition and ensure that we achieve the objectives we have set for 2030 and possibly go beyond.

However, Europe has faced some turmoil on the energy front in the last year or so, with a massive energy crisis that put our energy resilience to the test but also dramatically increased living costs for many Europeans. At the same time, we witnessed a growing public backlash against green policies, which paradoxically should alleviate and prevent future energy price shocks and shelter Europeans from such cost increases.

Over the past 5 years, the EU has laid the groundwork to steer Europe towards climate neutrality with the many Green Deal policies that have been adopted. But this is just the start. Over the next 5 years, our policy makers will have the responsibility not only to make the energy transition happen, but do so in a way that is acceptable to citizens and fosters confidence that this is the way forward for all of us.

Against this backdrop, EuropeOn is releasing today a Manifesto that highlights how the EU can harness electrification as a means to achieve climate neutrality, efficiently implement recent legislations, and act on the workforce dimension of electrification to make the energy transition an unanimous project in which all Europeans believe and prosper.

EuropeOn calls on policymakers to set forth an Electrification Action Plan that will map the road ahead to rid ourselves from fossil fuels and their many detrimental impacts and to increase our welfare, resilience and sovereignty. We also support this ask in our collective manifesto with the Electrification Alliance.

Additionally, we call on the EU to decisively act on the electrification workforce, currently lacking in numbers and left fending for itself, as we insist that this can bring tremendous benefits to our economy and to our society.

Addressing the technical workforce gap can alleviate some of the recent citizen discontent mentioned above. Championing technical education and tapping into the local job potential of electrification will frame the latter as an opportunity for all Europeans, from all social backgrounds or regions, as a new brand of industrialisation that stands to improve their daily lives, lower their energy bills and make their air cleaner but most importantly, impart a sense of economic upturn that breeds acceptance and confidence.

**Click here** to access our full Manifesto, complete with more details and policy asks.

**Click here** to listen to EuropeOn General Secretary Julie Beaufils briefly presenting the manifesto.