The EU can forget about competitiveness while energy prices remain prohibitively high, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has warned, urging Brussels to avoid policies that push costs higher.
Tusk spoke on Thursday at a press conference of the Visegrad Four (V4) – Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic – a Central European grouping that coordinates regional interests within the EU.
“We can put aside the dream of competing with China or the US as long as energy prices here remain at their current levels,” Tusk said. “The EU cannot afford to remain naive for even one more day when it comes to various ambitious policies. We must protect our industry.”
Tusk mentioned EU energy and climate measures such as carbon-pricing schemes, noting the region pays some of the world’s highest electricity prices despite Brussels making competitiveness a stated priority. “Energy prices in this region… must come down,” he insisted. “Anything that creates a risk of higher energy prices for us should be blocked.”
With benchmark TTF gas back near €80 per MWh – roughly four times its pre-2022 level – EU industrial electricity prices are still two to three times higher than in the US and nearly 50% above China’s, while gas in Europe can cost up to five times more than across the Atlantic.
Although today’s energy prices are significantly below 2022 peaks, the crisis has shaved off 15-20% from gas demand, which remains depressed, reflecting not only conservation but a contraction of the industrial base. Many energy-intensive operations were rendered unprofitable. Numerous factories curbed production or shut altogether.
Permanent chemical-plant closures alone have surged sixfold from pre-2022 levels, according to Cefic, while auto-making giants such as Volkswagen, Stellantis, and Renault, as well as multiple other manufacturers, have scaled back or closed European operations amid competition from the US and Asia, and corporate insolvencies have risen.
A major contributor to the EU’s gas woes is the abandonment of cheap Russian energy in light of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. Russia previously supplied around 45% of EU gas imports and 27% of its crude oil, but by 2025, Russia’s share of EU gas imports had fallen to 12% and crude imports to around 2%.
Several EU leaders, notably German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron, have acknowledged that the loss of Russian supplies has played a role in the energy crisis.
While Tusk, a strong Ukraine supporter, did not explicitly link high energy prices to EU sanctions on Russia and the cutting off of Russian supplies, he cited the Ukraine conflict and “constant pressure from Russia” among the broader challenges facing the region, saying “the war is a real problem.”
Tusk’s Visegrad peers also warned that Brussels’ policies are squeezing industry amid the decoupling from Russian energy divorce and ongoing defense buildup.
Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar warned that “dozens of Central European companies are going bankrupt because they cannot afford the price of electricity” and “can no longer afford the price of gas.” Magyar challenged Brussels to fund the energy transition it demands.
“If we need to transition away from Russian gas and oil, if we need to completely phase out fossil fuels, the EU should specify in its next seven-year budget how much assistance affected businesses will receive in turn,” he argued.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis similarly rejected leaving individual governments to deal with soaring fuel costs and criticized EU policies they said were hurting industry. Fico called for energy-market reforms, while Babis blamed the Green Deal for high costs, refinery closures and declining competitiveness.
The warnings come as the EU prioritizes two costly undertakings: completing its break with Russian energy, while financing a massive military buildup that envisages mobilizing up to €800 billion in additional defense spending. Russian LNG is due to disappear from the EU market by the end of 2026 and pipeline gas by autumn 2027.
Critics have warned that these two initiatives will be hard to reconcile and that the rejection of Russian energy will further undermine already flagging industrial competitiveness, and leave some member states scrambling for alternative supplies.
Meanwhile, the US war on Iran and disruption of the Strait of Hormuz are exacerbating the crisis. This, combined with Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping and Saudi energy infrastructure, has pushed Brent crude above $106 a barrel this week.
European households have taken a hit as well. An Ipsos-Secours survey of 10,000 people across ten European countries, released earlier this month, found that 29% were living in precarious circumstances and 73% feared being unable to afford fuel costs. More than a third said they had sacrificed essentials such as food or healthcare to pay energy bills over the past year, while 23% had skipped medical appointments, suggesting energy insecurity is becoming a permanent feature of the cost-of-living crisis.
Moscow has long denounced Western energy sanctions as illegal and self-defeating, arguing they merely redirect Russian exports elsewhere while forcing Europeans toward more expensive and harder-to-obtain supplies. Russia has offered to help fill oil shortages caused by the Middle East conflict and resume supplies to Europe, but says it has received no response.
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