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Such measures “are sensible, and some of them, such as energy tax cuts, could be sustained indefinitely even if prices continue to increase,” said Elisabetta Cornago, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform think tank who specializes in EU energy policy.
But she called them partial solutions that “only make a small difference.”
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Amid protests, Europe limited in curbing high energy prices
MADRID (AP) — Across Europe, governments are slashing fuel taxes and doling out tens of billions to help consumers, truckers, farmers and others cope with spiking energy prices made worse by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
But it’s not enough for some whose livelihoods hinge on fuel.
“We will continue striking because, at the end of the day, it’s pretty much the same for us to go out to work or to stay at home,” Rodríguez said.
He warned that his rising costs were part of “a domino effect that is only going to drive us all to our ruin unless the government takes some definitive action.”
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He’s among those in industries like trucking or fishing who are staging protests to push politicians to ease their financial pain.
The war has exacerbated a monthslong energy crunch in Europe, which is dependent on Russian oil and natural gas.
Governments have limited options to provide lasting relief as households and businesses face crippling energy bills, high prices at the pump and other effects.
Explosive energy markets control natural gas and oil prices that have soared and fueled record inflation.
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Countries like Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Sweden and Cyprus are doing what they can, passing temporary efforts to provide immediate help: slashing fuel taxes, rolling out heating and power subsidies or rebates, and capping energy bills for households and small businesses.
An ugly new force that has reared its head and is threatening to destroy the savings and investments of millions of unsuspecting Americans.
But she called them partial solutions that “only make a small difference.”
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“The main problem is that these measures to keep energy prices low will also suppress incentives for energy efficiency, for investment in green energy generation, and for electrifying sectors that currently rely on fossil fuels so they could make the long-term pain of adjustment harder,” Cornago said.
Raising interest rates, the tool wielded by central banks to tame inflation, also would do little to rein in energy prices which European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde noted last month.
That’s because “rising energy prices are due to fundamental shifts in energy markets,” Cornago said.
The energy crisis will be a hot topic at a European Council summit starting Thursday in Brussels, where leaders from Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Greece will call for an urgent, coordinated bloc-wide response.
EU officials on Wednesday said they would seek U.S. help on a plan to top up natural gas storage facilities for next winter and also want the bloc to jointly purchase gas.
In the meantime, workers are taking to the streets as gasoline across the EU’s 27 countries has risen 40% from a year ago, to an average of 2.02 euros per liter — the equivalent of $8.40 a gallon.
Truckers around France, dissatisfied with aid they consider “insufficient,” held a day of action Monday, with a group of independent drivers in Normandy and the English Channel region staging a blockade that prevented hundreds of trucks from moving.
Collateral damage included a Paris gig by British hard rock group Royal Blood. The band tweeted the cancellation of its show Monday night because its gear was stuck at a service station near Paris and “the protesters will not allow the (equipment) trucks to leave.”
In Cyprus, hundreds of livestock breeders protested Monday outside the country’s Presidential Palace and demanded compensation to offset the sharp increase in animal feed prices because of higher transport costs tied to fuel price hikes.
Spanish truck drivers have been disrupting the delivery of fresh produce and other goods to supermarkets for more than a week, while farmers paraded their tractors through Madrid on Sunday.
Outside government offices, cattle breeders poured out milk that they said costs them more to produce than they earn selling it.
7. ‘with the country’s logistics in disarray from the trucker protests, Spain’s national fishing federation said members can’t even move their catch from the ports to the markets further inland.
LTA Work Of Art 