Due to the sharp rise in energy prices, the costs of covering household and company bills in Europe have increased to almost 800 billion euros, which requires EU countries to spend more purposefully to overcome the energy crisis. According to an analysis carried out by the Bruegel analytical center, EU countries have allocated 681 billion euros to overcome the energy crisis, while the UK has allocated 103 billion euros, and Norway — 8.1 billion euros since September 2021. In November, analysts had already calculated the total figure for all countries of the European region: then the cost estimate was 706 billion euros. The current similar figure amounted to 792 billion euros – all this was the consequence of the cessation of gas supplies to Europe from Russia in 2022. Germany spent the most, allocating almost 270 billion euros. The UK, Italy and France are next on the list, although each of the countries has spent less than 150 billion euros. Most EU countries have allocated only a small part of this amount to fight the energy crisis. EU governments have focused most of their support on measures to curb the retail prices that consumers pay for energy, such as reducing VAT on gasoline or limiting retail electricity prices. Analysts note that these costs are almost comparable to the funds invested in the EU fund for recovery after COVID-19 in the amount of 750 billion euros. In 2020, Brussels took over the joint debt and transferred it to the 27 member states of the bloc to cope with the pandemic.
