Putin’s war on energy is testing solidarity between EU nations

Russia’s continuing war in Ukraine is causing a “very, very challenging” situation in Europe, which is testing its countries’ solidarity not only in how they react to Putin’s aggression, but also in how they deal with the aftereffects.

The conflict’s impacts on energy have rippled across Europe: Germany has scrambled to bolster its natural gas storage, French President Emmanuel Macron has encouraged people to cut their gas usage by 10% ahead of winter, and Italy is looking to scale back gas consumption by 7%.

“We have never experienced such a challenging experience,” Paolo Gentiloni, the EU’s economics commissioner, told CNBC on Oct. 12.

“I’m calling [for] European action, European solidarity, because the experience we had in the previous crisis … was that acting together, responding together, you are not only able to avoid divisions among European countries but you have a strong, strong reaction,” Gentiloni said, referring to the unanimous, albeit “slow” procurement and rollout of Covid-19 vaccines in 2021.

Gentiloni also referred to a “common tool” that could be used across the EU to help member states combat the energy crisis. 

“I’m not calling for further common debt,” Gentiloni highlights, “because we have a big common debt for what we call next generation EU. I’m calling for a common tool based on loans to face the emergency that we have,” he said. 

Divisions in the ranks?

But divisions are starting to show in how countries are approaching the energy crisis. 

Poland, Belgium, Italy and Greece are among the countries proposing a gas “price corridor” across Europe in an attempt to tackle soaring prices. 

The gas price corridor, “should act as a circuit breaker and disincentive to speculation. It is not meant to suppress prices at an artificially low level,” according to a draft proposal, as reported by Reuters.

But other countries, including Germany, are thought to oppose the plan over fears that capping prices could have negative impacts on energy security.

The corridor is thought to have been discussed on Oct. 7, but no further details have been released.

Meanwhile, Germany has already put provisions in place as winter approaches.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced a 200 billion euro ($193 billion) package to subsidize basic consumption for households and small and medium-sized companies on Sept. 30. 

But Germany working independently of the wider European community has prompted questions over the country’s commitment to a unified response to the energy crisis, with fears that the package could have a negative impact on the country’s neighbors.

When asked whether Germany should commit to not buying energy ahead of other European countries, Gentiloni said that would be “a very good move.”

“I would say not only for Germany, [but also] for Italy, for other countries that are understandably on their own in looking for energy sources, alternative[s] to…