{"id":412280,"date":"2026-04-22T20:03:37","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T20:03:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/412280\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T20:03:37","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T20:03:37","slug":"what-are-eu-countries-doing-to-counter-energy-price-rises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/412280\/","title":{"rendered":"What are EU countries doing to counter energy price rises?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The European Commission will set out plans on Wednesday to cut electricity taxes<\/a> as it seeks to reduce the price impact of the Iran war<\/a> and to coordinate the refilling of countries’ gas storage ahead \u200bof the increase in heating demand later this year.<\/p>\n

Below are some of the measures deployed so \u200cfar by European Union governments since the disruption caused by the Middle Eastern conflict, which erupted at the end of February, began driving up energy prices<\/a>.<\/p>\n

IRELAND\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ireland will cut \u200bexcise duty by 15c per litre on petrol and 20c on diesel until the end of May as part of a \u200b\u20ac250m package<\/a> that took effect from midnight on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

GERMANY\u00a0<\/p>\n

Berlin decided not to subsidise prices, but to limit volatility by allowing petrol stations to increase prices only \u200bonce a day at midday (11am Irish time).<\/p>\n

They can cut prices at any time. Breaches could be punished with \u200bfines of up to \u20ac100,000.<\/p>\n

FRANCE\u00a0<\/p>\n

France’s government has opted for support measures strictly targeted at \u2060the sectors most in need, marking a sharp contrast with sweeping energy price caps that badly strained public \u200bfinances after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n

It has announced over \u20ac70m in fuel subsidies for the transport, farming \u200band fishing industries for April in addition to a \u20ac150 benefit for 3.8 million low-income households to help pay energy bills.<\/p>\n

ITALY\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Italian government has set aside some \u20ac417.4 to cut excise duties on petrol and diesel until April 7, but \u200bprices have changed little and industry lobbies are pushing for more effective steps.<\/p>\n

POLAND\u00a0<\/p>\n

Poland announced on March 26 it \u200bwould cut fuel taxes, cap pump prices and could pursue a windfall tax on energy companies.<\/p>\n

ROMANIA\u00a0<\/p>\n

Romania introduced a cap on markups to \u200cfuel \u2060prices and put a limit on fuel exports for six months. The measures can be extended by three months at a time. The government also approved a 652m lei (\u20ac128m) state aid scheme to offset part of the cost of gasoline for road transporters of cargo and passengers until year-end.<\/p>\n

SPAIN\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Spanish government proposed measures worth \u20ac5bn to counter \u200bthe economic impact of \u2060the Middle East conflict on local energy prices.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The measures, which require approval from parliament, include the reduction of value-added tax on electricity bills to 10%, cutting fuel prices \u200bby up to 30c per litre and granting a fuel subsidy of \u200b20c per \u2060litre for the farming and transport sectors, which are some of the most exposed to the sharp price spike.<\/p>\n

HUNGARY\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hungary, ahead of elections on April 12, decided to limit fuel prices to shield private consumers and businesses and release state reserves \u2060to ensure \u200bsupply. The cap applied for vehicles registered in Hungary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The European Commission will set out plans on Wednesday to cut electricity taxes as it seeks to reduce…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":412281,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[13502,72,113,8858,63615,61,11829,60,1196],"class_list":{"0":"post-412280","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-ieexplains","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-economy","11":"tag-energy-prices","12":"tag-fuel-prices","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-iran","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-middle-east"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}