Europeans in dispersed order

In a few weeks, the subject of energy prices has imposed itself at the top of the European agenda. While that of gas has risen by 170% since January, the Twenty-Seven and the community institutions are worried about the consequences – social, economic, political and environmental – of this surge.

Monday October 4, in Luxembourg, the finance ministers of the euro zone discussed at length. The heads of state and government of the European Union (EU), who will have dinner together on Tuesday 5 October in Slovenia, will probably take it up, before coming back to it at their next meeting, scheduled for Brussels on 21 and 22 October. “The rise in energy prices threatens the economic recovery and endangers the climate transition”Greece’s finance minister Christos Staikouras said on Monday.

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The phenomenon, if it were to last, could, in the worst nightmares of Europeans, derail the recovery and their agenda to fight against global warming, while putting “yellow vests” in the streets all over the Old Continent and by reopening the North-South and East-West divide within the EU.

It could also sour relations with Russia, where Gazprom refuses, for the moment, to increase its deliveries to Europeans, while waiting, some believe, for Germany to approve the entry into service of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. say that after the pandemic due to Covid-19, the Twenty-Seven are keen to avoid this catastrophic scenario.

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On Monday, most Eurogroup participants spoke of the character ” temporary “ the rise in gas prices, but they did not hide the fact that a harsh winter or a new supply problem could be a game-changer. And prevent inflation from returning to more reasonable levels (+ 3.4% in September in the euro zone). In which case, the question of the rise in interest rates by the European Central Bank (ECB) will arise, with all the risks that the rise in the cost of money may pose to the recovery …

So far, governments have sought to deal with the emergency – that is, to lower the bill for their citizens and their businesses. France, Italy, Spain, Greece and even the Netherlands have announced measures made to cut VAT, subsidies to the most modest households, aid to businesses and freeze on tariffs. And, as in the early hours of the pandemic, the Twenty-Seven did not see fit to coordinate, running the risk of creating new differences within an already very heterogeneous EU. “Europeans must coordinate”, insisted the Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, Monday, at the end of the Eurogroup in which he participated.

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