Blog Post

Ukraine: trade reorientation from Russia to the EU

Over the past five years conflict has led to a deterioration of Russo-Ukrainian economic relations while ties with the EU have been deepened. This shift is evident in trade flows: the European Union has become Ukraine’s biggest trading partner, while China is poised to overtake Russia as its second. Natural gas imports from Russia, Ukraine’s prior Achilles heel, have been partially replaced by reverse deliveries from the EU and reduced as result of reform of the gas sector.

By: Marek Dabrowski, Marta Domínguez-Jiménez and Georg Zachmann Topic: European Macroeconomics & Governance Date: July 13, 2020

Policy Brief

Greening the recovery by greening the fiscal consolidation

In the wake of COVID-19, some economic recovery policies will help green the economy – for example, energy renovation of buildings. But there are limits to the share of stimulus that can be explicitly green. The European Union should therefore also green the fiscal consolidation by setting out the path to much higher carbon prices than today. This would guide investment and provide revenues to help the fiscal consolidation.

By: Ben McWilliams, Simone Tagliapietra and Georg Zachmann Topic: Energy & Climate, Finance & Financial Regulation Date: July 8, 2020

Policy Contribution

Six years after Ukraine’s Euromaidan: reforms and challenges ahead

Since the Euromaidan protests (2013-2014), Ukraine has had two presidents and four governments. In a difficult environment of external aggression, they have initiated various reforms aimed at bringing the country closer to the European Union and boosting growth. Progress has been partial and relies on international backing, with limited domestic appetite for reform.

By: Marek Dabrowski, Marta Domínguez-Jiménez and Georg Zachmann Topic: European Macroeconomics & Governance Date: June 30, 2020

Blog Post

Lessons learned from the electricity tracker

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, Bruegel’s new tool has gauged the impact of the crisis on economic activity by tracking changes in electricity consumption.

By: Ben McWilliams and Georg Zachmann Topic: Energy & Climate, European Macroeconomics & Governance Date: June 22, 2020

Policy Contribution

Racing against COVID-19: a vaccines strategy for Europe

This Policy Contribution proposes a staged support scheme to tackle the COVID-19 vaccine challenge and a moon shot programme to meet the challenge of future pandemics.

By: Reinhilde Veugelers and Georg Zachmann Topic: Innovation & Competition Policy Date: April 21, 2020

Blog Post

Covid-19 crisis: electricity demand as a real-time indicator

Comparing average weekday hourly electricity demand for the last few weeks to the year before, we visualise the moment when the current crisis began to have an impact on national economies and how large that impact was.

By: Ben McWilliams and Georg Zachmann Topic: Energy & Climate Date: March 25, 2020

Policy Contribution

A European carbon border tax: much pain, little gain

The European Commission should not make the implementation of a carbon border adjustment mechanism into a must-have element of its climate policy. There is little in the way of strong empirical evidence that would justify a carbon-adjustment measure. Moreover, significant logistical, legal and political challenges will arise during the design. The EU should instead focus upon the implementation of measures to trigger the development of a competitive low-carbon industry in Europe.

By: Ben McWilliams and Georg Zachmann Topic: Energy & Climate, European Macroeconomics & Governance Date: March 5, 2020

Opinion

Europe’s Green Deal must reach beyond its borders

A European Climate and Sustainable Development Bank could become the external investment arm of the European Green Deal.

By: Simone Tagliapietra and Georg Zachmann Topic: Energy & Climate Date: February 4, 2020

Policy Contribution

The European Union-Russia-China energy triangle

Concern is growing in the European Union that a rapprochement between Russia and China could have negative implications for the EU.

By: Georg Zachmann Topic: Energy & Climate Date: December 9, 2019

Opinion

Four pillars to make or break the European Green Deal

The recipe for a successful European Green Deal is as simple as it is breath-taking: to intelligently promote deep decarbonisation by accompanying the economic and industrial transformation this necessarily implies, and by ensuring the social inclusiveness of the overall process.

By: Simone Tagliapietra, Grégory Claeys and Georg Zachmann Topic: Energy & Climate Date: November 14, 2019