Energy Crunch to Dominate EU Agenda

Welcome to the Brussels Edition, Bloomberg’s daily briefing on what matters most in the heart of the European Union.

Spiking energy prices are set to dominate the conversation when EU finance ministers meet in Luxembourg today and tomorrow, with record costs jacking up inflation and forcing governments to dip into their coffers to protect consumers. They’re also planning to discuss the EU’s banking union and climate finance, and some countries want to talk about a bloc-wide approach to a global corporate-tax proposal. But the energy crisis is set to eclipse all that. Europe is struggling to secure enough gas and coal ahead of the winter, with rising prices forcing some fertilizer producers and chemicals plants to shut down or curtail output. The crunch will likely also be top of mind when EU leaders gather in Slovenia tomorrow for an informal dinner ahead of Wednesday’s Western Balkans Summit. China, one of the subjects of the closed-door dinner, just ordered its state-owned energy companies to secure supplies for this winter at all costs, escalating the global fight for power.