Kadri Simson, a TV star against the crisis

Kadri Simson, a TV star against the crisis


Maria Picasso i Piquer

Profile | EU Energy Commissioner

Popular in her native Estonia thanks to a TV contest, the European Union Commissioner for Energy faces the challenge of overcoming the energy challenge caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Since taking up the post of European Union Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, a TV star and hugely popular in her country of Estonia, has faced several unprecedented crises. In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic compromised European energy supply chains and sent oil and gas prices skyrocketing. Now, it must prepare Europe for possible cuts in the supply of Russian gas -which accounts for 40% of what is consumed in Europe-, as part of the possible retaliation of Vladimir Putin to the sanctions of the West. In this complicated task, Simson has been forced to change her pace and open the door to other measures, including the reform of the European energy market that Spain is asking for and that the commissioner has been holding back for a long time.

The European Commission, led by Simson, presented last fall a 'toolbox' to deal with rising energy prices. Through this mechanism, member states have allocated "more than 21,000 million euros to help the most vulnerable consumers," Simson said at the end of February. The pressure of Russian aggression on Ukraine has, however, led Brussels to consider reinforcing the current tools with a new package of measures that seek to reduce dependence on Russian gas and curb energy prices.

Voices are growing among the Member States calling for alternatives, including delinking the price of gas from that of electricity. The Spanish proposal was previously rejected, but, according to community sources, this initiative would have gained strength and the commission would be seriously evaluating it among the new mechanisms it hopes to adopt in April. And Simson, at the head of energy policies, will be the one who shapes that European plan after consulting the countries of the community club.

family of politicians

Kadri Simson's professional career has not always been linked to the energy field. The curator, whose birth name is Kadri Musta (Estonia, 1977), is the eldest of four sisters. She studied History and an MA in Political Science from University College London. Throughout her professional career, she has managed to combine her two passions and, parallel to her political functions, she has carried out numerous investigations and historical works. This vocation runs in her family, as she is the daughter of politician and historian Aadu Musta, who was a member of the Estonian Center Party before her, held various positions in the Tallinn City Council and was a member of the Estonian Parliament.

Kadri, who adopted the surname Simson from her ex-husband - the journalist Priit Simson - followed in her father's footsteps and, after performing various tasks in the capital's town hall, made the leap to the lower house, where she was spokesperson for the liberal formation . He also held the post of vice president of the Estonian NATO Association.

In the years 2014 and 2015, he gained a lot of popularity thanks to his time on the national television program 'What? Where? When?', a memory contest in which she was chosen as the best player in the final program. That same year she became the most popular deputy in the country according to a national poll.

Motivated by the impulse of the street, politics challenged the leader of the Center Party, Edgar Savisaar, in primaries that he lost by a difference of 55 delegate votes. Despite this political setback, she remained an important figure within the party, and a year later, when the Liberals won the national election, Simson was appointed the country's Minister for Economic Affairs and Infrastructure.

But politics aspired to cross national borders and in 2019 he stood in the European elections with the liberal formation Renew Europe. Not only did she enter the European Parliament, but she was also elected to the Energy portfolio in Ursula von der Leyen's cabinet.

Support for the Green Pact

In his social networks he shows his great love for sports and his love for nature. The snapshots in forests and bucolic places -the majority in her native Estonia-, are mixed with family pictures and official trips. As commissioner, she has marked the Green Deal as one of her priorities and they have made numerous visits to wind and solar farms throughout the continent. In her personal life, Simson leads by example and drives a Skoda plug-in hybrid.

Upon becoming head of Energy, he assured that the European green transition "should promote renewables and rely on gas." Now, with the Russian invasion, he is committed to energy efficiency and supplier diversification: "No third country should have the power to destabilize our energy market," he says.

In recent weeks, he has closely followed the situation in Kiev, paying special attention to the Chernobyl and Zaporizhia nuclear power plants, now under Russian control. In his interventions, he has pointed to Russia as responsible for "a new nuclear threat" and has asked his troops to withdraw from those areas to avoid a nuclear disaster that could affect all of Europe. "Safety at those plants must prevail."



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