Europe risks “de-industrialisation” if it does not address the stark difference in energy prices between itself and the US.
That is the warning from Walter Boltz, executive director of Energie-Control Austria and vice-chairman of Europe’s Agency for the Co-operation of Energy Regulators (ACER).
The US has seen a dramatic shift in prices following the success for extracting shale gas. Walter Boltz said: “Energy prices are crucial for a region’s or country’s competitiveness. In the United States the gas price is just a third of the European gas price.
“If Europe wants to avoid de-industrialisation, something needs to be done… otherwise we will increasingly see how energy intensive industries prefer to invest in the US rather than in Europe.”