(Finance) – “In October and November gas consumption in the European Union have been of 25% lower than the average of the past five yearsgoing beyond the 15% reduction target agreed last year. At the same time, efforts to diversify supplies have borne fruit: in the first five weeks of 2023, gas from pipelines from Russia represented around 7.5% of total European gas imports, compared to 37% on the 2021 average”.
These are the data provided by the European Commissioner for the Economy, Paul Gentiloni during the press conference at the end of the Eurogroup that they were presented to the ministers. “Meanwhile, the imports of liquefied gas by sea have more than doubled, since20% of 2021 to the 42% at the beginning of 2023″. Gentiloni also underlined that EU gas stock levels stand at around 75%, only marginally lower than they were at the start of the winter season. “The drop in energy prices it should allow governments to phase out energy support measures and make the remaining ones more targeted. We encourage them to do so. There is a small window of opportunity in the coming months to improve the quality of measures coming out of more expensive and less efficient ones”, he said. “But to be clear, we are not out of danger. Energy prices remain well above the levels seen in past years and could remain volatile – Gentiloni said again – while supply shortages could re-emerge in the coming months. For this we mean prepare a joint procurement mechanism no later than the end of this quarter”.
Among the good news, also the fact that iThe unemployment rate in the Eurozone (at 6.6%) is at historic lows, while activity and employment levels are at their highest ever recorded, at 79.5% and 74.4% respectively.
“The labor market remains extremely resilient. This is partly due to the success of our policies, including the support through the SURE instrument, which has avoided the destruction of many jobs and the decline in activity rates that has been observed for example in the USA”, argued Gentiloni . However, it should be noted that even in the USA unemployment has fallen to historic lows and the vacancy rate is higher than that recorded in the EU. However, even according to Gentiloni “Many challenges remain to be managed on the job side. The first is linked to inflation and the erosion of purchasing power in a context in which wage growth must remain consistent with the objectives of intervening on high inflation. In 2022 – said the Eurocommissioner – wages increased but they did not keep up step of the infraction”.