Europe is facing mounting economic pressure as tensions in the Middle East escalate, causing significant fluctuations in global energy markets, a European energy expert has said.
The region's heavy reliance on energy imports has left it vulnerable to soaring oil and gas prices, raising concerns over inflation and economic stability, said Simone Tagliapietra, a senior fellow at Bruegel, a Brussels-based think tank devoted to policy research on economic issues.
"This is putting very tough pressure on the European gas markets. Also, we see rising cost of the gasoline at the pump. So, higher energy costs, which will again have huge impact on the European citizens and which risk to ignite an inflation spiral where all prices rise as a consequence of the rising energy prices," said Tagliapietra, who specializes in EU climate, energy and industrial policy.
Despite Europe's substantial imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States, the expert cautioned, U.S. supply remains unstable, which further complicates Europe's energy security outlook.
"Given the volatility in the decisions of the Trump administration and given the trade war that the Trump administration has started against all other countries including the European Union in the past year, we are also very much attentive at any possible attempt by the U.S. administration to limit the exports of this LNG. We do not see this as an imminent risk, but this is something that Europe certainly needs to watch out with great degree of care in the coming months and weeks," he said.
Tagliapietra agrees that Europe must accelerate its energy transition to reduce dependency on single import sources and fossil fuels.
"There is nothing that Europe can do to decouple itself from this vulnerability of fossil fuel dependency, then accelerating the deployment of solar and wind energy sources in Europe. And we need to continue to do a lot of efforts amid this new energy crisis," said Tagliapietra.
Rising tensions in Middle East trigger energy market volatility in Europe: expert
Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump held a phone conversation on Wednesday, discussing the recent shooting at the White House press dinner, the situation in Iran and the Ukraine crisis, the Kremlin said.
The Russian president informed his U.S. counterpart of Russia's readiness to declare a truce with Ukraine for the period of Victory Day commemorations.
Trump voiced strong support for the initiative, noting that "the holiday marks our common victory over Nazism in World War II," said Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov after the phone conversation that lasted over an hour and a half.
At Trump's request, Putin described the current situation along the contact line with Ukraine, where Russian troops maintain the strategic initiative and are pushing back enemy positions, said Ushakov.
Putin reaffirmed that the goals of the special military operation will be achieved in any case, the aide said. Russia would prefer this to be achieved through negotiations, for which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskymust respond positively to the well-known proposals that have been repeatedly put forward, including by the U.S. side, he said. Russia has handed over more than 20,000 bodies of the deceased to Ukraine, Putin told Trump, adding that Ukraine has returned just over 500 bodies to Russia since the beginning of 2025.
Among the issues on the international agenda, the two leaders focused primarily on the situation in Iran and the Persian Gulf, according to the Kremlin.
Putin viewed Trump's decision to extend the ceasefire with Iran as the right move, as it will help stabilize the situation, Ushakov said, adding that Putin drew attention to the inevitable, extremely dire consequences not only for Iran and its neighbors, but also for the entire international community should the United States and Israel resort to force again.
Russia remains firmly determined to fully support diplomatic efforts aimed at finding a peaceful settlement to the crisis, and has put forward a number of proposals intended to resolve differences over the Iranian nuclear program, said the presidential aide.
Ushakov noted that to this end, Moscow will maintain active contacts with Iranian representatives, leaders of Persian Gulf states, as well as with Israel and the U.S. negotiating team.
For his part, Trump also outlined his assessment of the Middle East situation to Putin.
Putin, Trump hold phone call on issues of Iran, Ukraine
