European Union

European nations reached a deal to cap natural gas prices at €180, ending months of political wrangling over whether to intervene in an energy crisis that has risked pushing the region into a recession, Bloomberg News reported. The so-called gas market correction mechanism — a temporary measure designed to prevent extreme price swings — will apply from Feb. 15, according to people familiar with the matter.

The European Commission plans to seek feedback on whether the 27-country bloc needs to loosen state aid rules to allow governments to support companies affected by the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, Reuters reported. The $430 billion act, which grants consumers tax credits for U.S.-produced electric vehicles (EV) and other green products, has triggered fears it could disadvantage European Union companies and tempt businesses to relocate to the United States.

The European Commission has demanded that German gas importer Uniper divest its Dutch business to obtain regulatory approval for a rescue deal, German daily Handelsblatt reported, according to Reuters. The European Commission has set itself a Dec. 16 deadline to decide on whether to approve Germany's bailout of Uniper, its biggest gas trader which nearly collapsed after Russia stopped the supply of the fuel, under merger control rules. Uniper's activities in the Netherlands mainly consist of its Maasvlakte MPP 3 hard coal-fired power plant with a capacity of 1.07 gigawatt (GW).

The impact of the European Union’s sanctions on its own economy has so far been largely contained to a few specific sectors, according to an assessment prepared by the bloc’s executive arm, Bloomberg News reported. The restrictive measures have caused supply issues in sectors like wood and precious metals, but wider disruptions have mostly been because of global market trends, Russia’s war in Ukraine and Moscow’s own retaliatory steps.

The European Union published three draft laws on Wednesday to lift economic growth by deepening its capital market through less reliance on post-Brexit London, cutting red tape on company listings and streamlining insolvency rules. Britain's departure from the EU has forced the bloc to review its reliance on London for clearing trillions of euros in derivatives, EU financial services commissioner Mairead McGuinness said. The draft laws form the latest package in the bloc's efforts to build a capital markets union.

Euro zone gross domestic product (GDP) grew by slightly more than initially estimated, data from the European statistics agency Eurostat showed on Wednesday, with household spending and business investment propping up the economy, Reuters reported. Eurostat said GDP growth in the third quarter was 0.3% in the 19-country euro area in the July-September period from the previous quarter and 2.3% year-on-year, above its flash estimates of 0.2% and 2.1% published in mid-November. Household spending added 0.4 percentage points to euro zone growth and gross fixed capital formation 0.8 points.

European Union countries on Tuesday considered the latest proposal for a lower gas price gap of 220 euros ($231), a week away from a meeting when the bloc hopes to resolve an issue that has deeply divided the 27 member states, Reuters reported. A handful of states, including Europe's biggest economy Germany, has opposed the idea of any cap, saying it could make it harder to secure supplies, while Belgium, Italy and Poland see it as a way to protect consumers and economies from the shock of high energy prices.

European Union member states on Thursday reached a deal on rules that would force large companies to check whether their suppliers use slave or child labour, or pollute the environment, but with an optional exemption for financial services, Reuters reported. Known as corporate sustainability due diligence, the rules were proposed by the European Commission earlier this year and would be applied to around 13,000 large companies, requiring them not just to identify impacts but also take measures to mitigate or end them.

European Union states are starting to coalesce around a plan to cap the price of Russian crude oil at $60 a barrel, their latest attempt to clinch an agreement before a Monday deadline, Bloomberg News reported. The bloc is also looking at a mechanism that would allow for regular evaluations and potential revisions of the price every two months from mid-January 2023, the people added. Two of the people said that there should be an agreement that any future resetting of the cap should leave it at least 5% below average market rates. They didn’t go into detail.