Europe will reduce energy bills by 7,000 euros last year, Bruegel calculated. Germany leads, Slovakia is in the better half
- Since the outbreak of the energy crisis, Germany has already invested more than 260 euros in households and businesses.
- In contrast, there are six countries in Europe that do not provide their companies with any subsidies to reduce energy prices.
- Slovakia is on the ninth place from the top, despite the fact that, as one of the few countries, it decided not to reduce the VAT on energy.
Since the beginning of the energy crisis in September 2021, the European country has allocated a total of 705.5 billion euros to protect consumers from rising energy costs.
Data, collected by the Belgian think tank Bruegel, says that Germany alone – as the leader of the ranking – invested 264 euros, or 7.4 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP). For comparison – according to analysts, Slovakia responded to expensive energy in the amount of 3.6 billion euros, which represents 3.7 percent of the annual output of the economy.
The institute’s methodology also includes measures that have already been announced, but the country introduced them only in the following months or years. It separately calculates the costs of loans or nationalization – as in the case of France, which redeemed nuclear energy group EDF for almost 10 euros in an attempt to secure further control over supplies. Similarly in the Czech Republic, where the government provided a loan of three billion euros to the ČEZ group for the purchase of gas and electricity.
These days, many governments, including the Slovak one, approved the so-called tax on excessive profits, which is supposed to burden power plants or other energy companies. This is also why not all data may be 100% up-to-date.