German gas price plan exposes EU divisions over energy
BRUSSELS (AP) — Germany’s plan to spend billions of euros to help keep gas prices low for its consumers and businesses has received a tepid welcome from fellow European Union members, with some worrying that the measure could exacerbate the energy crisis.
With a recession looming, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said last week that his government would spend up to 200 billion euros (dollars) on the “gas price brake.” Some EU countries think the move by the bloc’s biggest economy should have been coordinated with them. They said they worry it could jack up prices elsewhere.
European economies were already struggling to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, but high inflation and Russia’s war in Ukraine, notably its decision to switch off the gas taps to several EU countries, has given them a fresh battering.
The solution, according to some opponents of Germany’s plan – among them France and Italy – should be more solidarity among EU partners and more use of European Union funds, rather than go-it-alone national efforts.
“If we want to avoid fragmentation, if we want to face this crisis, I think we need a higher level of solidarity, and we need to put in place some further common tools,” Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said at a meeting of EU finance ministers in Luxembourg.
But he was cautious not to point the finger directly at Germany.
Dutch Finance Minister Sigrid Kaag agreed on the need to coordinate the response to the energy crunch among the 27 member countries, but she opposed the creation of any new EU fund to address the challenge.
The EU already has several funds with “billions and billions that are available and could be put to good use in the first instance,” Kaag told reporters. “We need to channel what we have and invest it in the right manner.”
The Dutch...
