More than 500 billion euros are spent annually on fossil fuels.

Error detected

The claimed figure of 'more than EUR 500 billion annually' overstates the EU's current annual fossil fuel spending by approximately €100–125 billion (25–33%) compared to the most recent available data (2024: €375.9 billion; 2025 estimate: ~€396 billion).

The use of the present tense does not reflect the post-2022 downward trend in EU fossil fuel import costs.

Omissions

• The MEP uses present tense ('spending … annually') implying a current, ongoing rate, but the most recent data (2024–2025) shows spending 20–25% below the claimed threshold.
• The claim appears to reference peak crisis-year spending (2022) without acknowledging the subsequent decline driven by falling energy prices and reduced consumption.
• The MEP did not specify whether the figure refers to imports only or total fossil fuel spending (including domestic production); Eurostat import data is the standard reference for EU-level fossil fuel expenditure.
• The MEP did not cite any source, making it unclear what specific metric or year the claim is based on.

Sources

• PrimaryEurostat – Imports of energy products to the EU down in 2024In 2024, the EU imported €375.9 billion worth of energy products, amounting to a total of 720.4 million tonnes. Compared with 2023, imports decreased both in value (-11.1%) and in mass (-7.1%).
• PrimaryEurostat – EU imports of energy products – latest developmentsIn 2022, there was a peak in the value of petroleum oils, reaching €331.7 billion. Liquefied natural gas value also peaked in 2022 at €118.4 billion. The combined total for just these two categories was €450.1 billion in 2022, before declining in subsequent years.
• SecondaryCentre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) – EU fossil fuel imports and CO2 emissions in 2025The EU's overall fossil fuel imports in 2025 came to approximately EUR 880 per citizen for a total of EUR 396 bn, versus EUR 330 bn spent on imports from Russia alone in 2021.
• SecondaryEmber Energy – Europe is highly vulnerable due to reliance on fossil importsDuring the main years of the crisis (2021-2024), fossil fuel imports cost the EU a total of €1.8 trillion. This averages to approximately €450 billion per year over the four-year period.