As temperatures fall and heating prices rise, political leaders across Europe are bracing themselves for a fall and winter of discontent. But, heating is just one of many aspects impacting Europe’s energy market. More broadly, EU member states are struggling to rein in soaring gas prices – which are wreaking havoc across the Continent. Last week, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for a European intervention to control gas prices in the run-up to a meeting of Europe’s energy ministers in Brussels on Friday, September 9. They discussed a collection of proposals by the European Commission to tackle rising energy prices – including the possibility of setting a new reference gas price that reflects the cost of LNG on the global market to avoid price spikes caused by disruptions in supply from Russia. This coming Wednesday the EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will give her annual State of the European Union address and is expected to simultaneously unveil draft legislation on how to deal with high energy prices.
Join us on September 15 for a virtual discussion with POLITICO’s Energy Policy Correspondent America Hernandez about the meeting of Europe’s energy ministers and what the future holds for Europe’s energy market.