Key facts
- European gas prices exceeded €100 per megawatt-hour for the first time since 2022.
- EU energy ministers acknowledged a lack of short-term solutions to price pressures.
- Governments have spent €18 billion on fossil fuel tax relief since the war began.
- France committed over 40 million barrels to strategic reserves.
European energy ministers are facing a difficult winter with few solutions to soaring energy prices, as gas surpassed €100 per megawatt-hour for the first time since 2022. Panic buying and supply pressures from the Middle East conflict have exacerbated the situation. Ministers acknowledged at a summit in Luxembourg that short-term options are largely exhausted, with focus shifting to crisis management and targeted subsidies, though even these face political hurdles and concerns about distorting the single market.