Europe’s energy woes drag on as skyrocketing energy bills, strikes hit countries

By Anadolu Agency Staff

ANKARA (AA) - Europe’s agenda continues to be dominated by an energy crisis brought about by Russia’s war in Ukraine, with no immediate solutions on the horizon.

-Germany

Some German hospitals could go bankrupt because of the energy and inflation crisis, the country’s health minister warned late Sunday.

"If we do not react there quickly and also really drastically, there will be closures," Karl Lauterbach told public broadcaster ARD, adding he will negotiate with Finance Minister Christian Lindner on Tuesday about more government aid for hospitals.

He added, however, that he could not give "any order of magnitude" regarding the amount of aid until then.

On calls for there to be some kind of "special fund" for hospitals in Germany similar to the special €100 billion ($98.4 billion) fund for the military, Lauterbach reacted negatively.

"We cannot introduce a special fund for every area," he said. After all, Lauterbach continued, "everything has to be paid off."

The background to Lauterbach's comments are demands by the German Hospital Association for rapid aid from politicians. The society fears that otherwise, there will be closures of numerous hospitals. According to the association, the financing gap for material costs and energy adds up to around €15 billion in 2022 and 2023.

The inflation rate in Germany rose to 10.9% in September. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) explained that the inflation rate had thus reached "a historic high since German reunification." The reasons are "enormous price increases" for energy products and food.

Leading German economists have been warning for some time that rising gas prices could push the European Union’s largest economy into a recession. According to experts, Germany will be one of the countries hardest hit by the global economic slowdown next year.

-France

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne has said there could be further coercive measures by the government in the event of a "very tight supply situation" at gas stations.

"If the situation remains very tense on Monday, more workers would be ordered to duty," Borne told TF1 television Sunday evening.

The prefects in Flanders (Hauts-de-France) and Feyzin (Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes) have taken measures to force employees of French energy major TotalEnergies to go back to work amid a strike, the Liberation newspaper reported.

While the strikes at Esso-ExxonMobil refineries ended Friday, they are continuing Monday at TotalEnergies refineries following a call by CGT, one of the five major trade unions in France.

The majority of unions have reached an agreement on wage increases.

Also this weekend, 30% of gas stations reported that they were short of at least one fuel.

France could be in for a critical week as many unions, including CGT and FO, have called for a general strike for Tuesday.

Meanwhile, workers in sectors such as transport, energy, education, waste collection and agriculture plan to respond to a call by French unions for an "inter-professional" strike this Tuesday.

As a result, not only will refinery workers and those at France's largest nuclear power plant Gravelines be on strike Tuesday, but so will workers in other professions nationwide.

Employees of French railroad SNCF announced their intention to join the strikes on Tuesday. The planned strikes are expected to cause "severe disruption" to train services, with up to "one in two trains" affected in some regions, Transport Minister Clement Beaune told France Inter TV on Monday.