National fiscal policy responses to the energy crisis

Since the start of the energy crisis in September 2021, €768 billion has been allocated and earmarked across European countries to shield consumers from the rising energy costs.

Here’s the breakdown:

• €657 billion in the EU, of which €265 billion has been earmarked by Germany alone
• €103 billion in the UK
• €8.1 billion in Norway

The current increase in wholesale energy prices in Europe has prompted governments to put in place measures to shield consumers from the direct impact of rising prices. The purpose of this dataset is to track and give a (non-exhaustive) overview of the different policies used by countries at national level to mitigate the effect of the price spike for consumers.

Measures at the sub-national and supra-national levels are excluded from the scope of this dataset, but this by no means implies that they are less relevant. While policies at the regional level can have a sizeable impact on consumers, for example in Belgium, in most European Union countries both energy regulation and levies are set at the national level. Similarly, long-term measures to counteract energy-price volatility are also of extreme importance.  At Bruegel we have looked at how to make the EU Energy Platform an effective emergency tool for joint gas purchasing, we have made an assessment of Europe’s options for addressing the crisis in energy markets, and we have called for a grand bargain at the EU level to steer through the energy crisis.

Source : Bruegel