The Energy Price Crisis In European Union

The steep rise of energy prices in the last couple of years has led to record price levels on the European markets, as well, generating major troublesome for consumers, especially for the most vulnerable categories, facing the spectrum of worsening living conditions. There was also a hard burden for businesses in general and SMEs in particular, forced to bear higher energy costs, and thus hampering the recovery efforts in the context of a prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. The causes of this looming energy crisis are multiple, both driven by the price of natural gas, as a key generation resource for heating and electricity, and by the price of emission allowance certificates. What caused the exceptional rise of the energy prices? What are the vulnerabilities of Member States in the Central and Eastern European region and what are the regional risks they face in the context of the foreseeable energy crisis? – are some of the current pressing concerns of policymakers, business representatives, and citizens alike. Beyond the upward and uncertain price trends, there are also risks in the region related to the security of power supply for citizens and production capacities during wintertime. However, at the intersection between the circumstantial factors and developments on the regional and global energy markets stands the impact of strategic decisions that could have been taken, and thus the exacerbation of such risks could have prevented. This article aims to discuss such external and circumstantial risk factors inclose connection with strategic decisions in the energy sector, in the case of Romania, while exploring potential solutions.