The Big Take

Nord Stream Hit Adds to Europe's Economic Woes in 2009 Echo

Governments are spending hundreds of billions of euros to ease the pain of high gas prices. It may not stop a deep recession.

Europe Has to Pray for a Warm Winter: Blanch
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The economic damage from the shutdown of Russian gas flows is piling up fast in Europe and risks eventually eclipsing the impact of the global financial crisis.

With a continent-wide recession now seemingly inevitable, a harsh winter is coming for chemical producers, steel plants and car manufacturers starved of essential raw materials who’ve joined households in sounding the alarm over rocketing energy bills. The suspected sabotage of Germany’s main pipeline for gas from Russia underlined that Europe will have to survive without any significant Russian flows.