Temperatures soar across much of Europe, but winter will be firmly in focus when energy ministers convene for an extraordinary meeting on 26 July to discuss the EU's energy supply security.
The Commission's REPowerEU plan aims to end dependence on Russian gas before the end of the decade, but supply disruption and the risk of complete cut-offs are much more immediate issues. It is therefore welcome that ministers and the European Commission will exchange on actions, which will be needed from now onwards and in a coordinated manner in order to mitigate the negative social and economic impact of supply shortages.
The economy must continue to operate for Europe to rebuild following the massive impact of the pandemic and the compound effect of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. This means that our businesses require the resources necessary to produce goods and services. Price stability is also a condition that businesses crave at the moment, and of course the energy crisis is one of the main contributors to the current high levels of inflation that - according to the European Commission's Summer 2022 Economic Forecast – will peak later this year and remain high into 2023. Reflecting this, EU growth forecasts for this year have also been downgraded.
With this in mind, the EU must use each policy tool at its disposal to enable businesses to maintain their activities and continue their efforts to drive the economic recovery. Apart from the critical issues of energy supply and controlling inflation, there are many other elements to this policy mix. Eurochambres will be working with the Czech Presidency of the European Council, the European Commission and members of the European Parliament through the summer and into the autumn to ensure that the needs of the business community are foremost in their thinking, their decisions and their actions as we seek to address this most challenging set of conditions for Europe.
Ben Butters, Eurochambres CEO