Experts say that only now does Europe seem to be discovering the US attempts to turn it into a second-hand player in the world economy and even in crucial international policy-making.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen considers it necessary to pay 18 billion euros to Ukraine as the economic crisis grips the region and dependence on the United States grows.
On the consequences of the fuel price hike, although gas prices seemed to stabilise in autumn and early winter, no one in Europe dares to say that the bad times are behind us.
The UK stands as something of a preview of what may happen in the coming months in other European nations, as employees from various public service sectors such as health, rail, postal and border police take to the streets in protest. All are demanding wage increases in the face of inflation, which has risen from 2% in 2021 to almost 11% in 2022. This is causing a chain of negative effects, including the bankruptcy of companies. Thus, the Bloomberg agency pointed out in a survey that for this New Year, six out of 10 Britons reduced their gift buying.
Recently, the British Ceramic Manufacturers’ Association, with a broad spectrum of products from firebricks to artificial joints, declared that as a result of the 10-fold increase in energy prices, it had to reduce its production.
According to the same source, many factories have started downsizing and foresee a move to a bankruptcy regime.
Likewise, the German publication Handelsblatt indicated at the time that the electricity tariff for the population in 2023 will grow by 115%, all this amid increased sanctions by Berlin against Moscow, especially in the sphere of gas and oil. In Austria, Defence Minister Klaudia Tanner warned that Europe almost certainly expects a period of power cuts, affecting a third of its nearly 500 million people.
Several European capitals began scaling back conditions to receive at least seven million Ukrainian migrants, many of them housed in hotels, amid a shortfall in resources to maintain this level of care.
Such migration to Europe comes in the midst of the war operation in Ukraine, announced on 24 February by President Vladimir Putin, to protect the population of the rebel-held Donbass area and to demilitarise and denazify the country.
Europe, on the other hand, is increasing its energy dependence on the United States, whose country drastically increased its supplies of liquefied gas to the region, replacing natural gas bought from Russia, which is cheaper and one of the pillars of European economic efficiency.
Analysts believe that, in addition to creating the conditions for a conflict on the border with Russia, Washington is seeking to sideline a major competitor on the world market, the European Union, which is also being called upon to increase defence spending. In fact, a regulation approved by the US Congress, with 350 billion dollars earmarked to boost companies in the so-called green economy sector, is starting to create problems for Europe with the relocation of factories to the North.
Such a situation led several European leaders to demand a discussion in the World Trade Organisation on the issue of US subsidies in the field of renewable energy and electric cars, something the EU has so far failed to do.PL
(Translated by Cristina Popa – Email: gcpopa83@gmail.com) – Photos: Pixabay
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