The U.K.’s energy regulator said it may impose stricter capital requirements for gas and power suppliers after almost two dozen companies collapsed since August in the wake of soaring prices, Bloomberg News reported. The surge in wholesale rates to levels almost four times higher than usual for this time of year has wreaked havoc on the energy retail sector. Many of those going out of business were partially or totally unhedged, leaving them vulnerable when prices increased dramatically.

The European Union has experienced a "breakthrough year" with the United States even if not all trade irritants are gone and now wants to work with its transatlantic ally to start forging trade rules for the future, the EU trade chief said, Reuters reported. A year on from Joe Biden's defeat of Donald Trump in the U.S. presidential election, the two sides have suspended their disputes over aircraft subsidies and steel and aluminium tariffs and launched an alliance to cooperate on future technologies. "One can say that this year was indeed a breakthrough year for EU-U.S.

KPMG risks a ban on bidding for public contracts if there is a repeat of recent scandals at one of the UK government’s biggest providers of consulting services, the cabinet office has warned, the Irish Times reported. The threat was made in a letter from the department to the Big Four consultant seeking assurances that there would be no further misconduct at the firm. KPMG’s reputation has suffered in recent years after a series of fines for misconduct. It is also under investigation over other allegations of malpractice.

Ukraine has appealed to the European Union for additional financial aid as the country struggles to meet its obligations and faces the threat of a potential invasion from Russian troops massing on its borders, Bloomberg News reported. “We have formally requested from the European Commission a long-term, macro-financial program to ensure sustainable financing in the upcoming years,” Yuriy Butsa, Ukraine’s commissioner for public debt management, said via WhatsApp.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the Greek economy could grow more than projected next year, saying he was "very bullish" about prospects for the economy and a successful tourism season unless there are further big complications from COVID-19, Reuters reported. Greece's economy attracts particular scrutiny after a decade of financial turmoil which saw the nation of 11 million people almost topple out of the euro zone as recently as 2015.

The European Union will seek to mobilize 300 billion euros ($340 billion) in public and private infrastructure investments by 2027 to offer developing countries an alternative to China’s massive Belt and Road program, Bloomberg News reported. The EU’s “Global Gateway” project unveiled on Wednesday outlines spending on digital, transport, energy and health projects. And while the proposal doesn’t mention China directly, it offers a counter to Beijing’s overseas development plan that critics say has pushed countries to unsustainable levels of indebtedness.

Scotland’s leader said Monday that she will renew her push for independence from the United Kingdom next year, with the aim of holding a referendum on secession in 2023, the Associated Press reported. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the independence campaign, stalled by the pandemic, “will resume in earnest” in spring 2022, “COVID permitting.” “In the course of next year, I will initiate the process necessary to enable a referendum before the end of 2023,” Sturgeon told a conference of her Scottish National Party.

Inflation soared to a record high in Europe in November as a continued upward climb in energy costs pushed prices skyward, data showed on Tuesday, the New York Times reported. Annual inflation in the eurozone surged to 4.9 percent, the European statistics agency Eurostat reported, the highest since records began in 1997. Excluding volatile energy and food prices, inflation jumped by 2.6 percent from a year earlier, the highest in two decades.

Germany's incoming Finance Minister Christian Lindner on Tuesday vowed to champion solid public finances and a reduction of debt levels across the euro zone so that the European Central Bank (ECB) could fight inflation without hesitation if needed, Reuters reported. Lindner's comments, posted on Twitter, came after data showed on Monday that German consumer price inflation accelerated further in November to reach its highest level in nearly three decades. "The inflation gives rise to legitimate concerns.

Poland said Tuesday that consumer prices have risen 7.7% over the past year, evidence that inflation is accelerating even faster than had been expected in the largest central European economy in the European Union, the Associated Press reported. The November number is the highest inflation rate in 20 years and marks a larger jump than what economists had predicted. Last month, it hit 6.8% annually, according to the statistics office.