European economy bears €1 trillion cost due to energy crisis, says EC vice-president

Vice-President of the European Commission (EC) Maros Sefcovic has said that the energy crisis that began in Europe after the escalation of the Ukrainian conflict cost the region’s economy €1 trillion.

He made the statement during a press conference, Gazeta.ru reports.

According to him, the main source of high inflation in the region was increased energy prices. We are mainly talking about the cost of gas, which has the greatest impact on the availability of electricity.

“It was a very difficult time for us. If you just look at how much we had to pay for imports, these are astronomical prices,” said an EC spokesman.

He also noted that the authorities were forced to spend a large amount of money to help households and businesses. Keeping lights and heating on in homes and factories has cost the European economy €1 trillion.

As Sefcovic said, even lower gas prices do not solve the problem of competitiveness of companies from the European Union (EU) on the international stage. This includes competition with companies from China and the US, where the cost of fuel is three to four times lower.

“The pressure on energy-intensive industries is enormous,” the vice president emphasized.

He added that ministers from countries in the region are now continuing to discuss the transition to clean energy. At the same time, the main issue in this discussion is ways to reduce energy prices, Šefčović concluded.