Amidst soaring defense spending, higher borrowing costs, erosion of energy intensive industries, renewed energy price hikes and possibly physical shortages, the European Union and its Member States are again struggling to stabilize the European economies. Governments are tempted by uncoordinated, short-term moves while in Brussels, there is a struggle between the “more of the same” and the “scrap it largely” approaches to the transition. Fundamental issues are at stake: the ETS reform, the Made in Europe criteria, the Grids Package and the need to build flexibility cost efficiently, the Electrification Action Plan, the growing trade deficit with China, the security of energy supplies, support to energy intensive industries, the next MFF while the deployment of hydrogen is still fragile.

This roundtable will discuss German, Italian and French approaches to the energy transitions and industry crises and their implications for Europe.