Energy Price Shock From Iran War Exposes Europe’s Weakness
One look at the decisions being made in corporate offices bears out the worries. The squeeze from energy costs is reshaping the industrial landscape, pushing companies to slow investment, shelve decarbonization projects and shift capacity elsewhere.
Photographer: Nathan Laine/BloombergUnderneath the glass and wrought iron ceiling of Antwerp’s stock exchange last month, French President Emmanuel Macron addressed a hall full of executives from heavy industries. He wasted no time in diving into the issue everyone cared most about: Europe’s perennially high energy prices.
It is, he said bluntly, “a weakness.”