EU Seeks Energy Tax Cuts as War Adds $26 Billion to Fuel Imports

The European Union’s executive arm is set to propose lowering energy taxes and power grid charges, after the Iran war added urgency to a plan to help the region’s struggling industries.

Since the start of the conflict, the bloc’s bill for fossil fuel imports has increased by over €22 billion ($25.7 billion), European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Monday at a press conference in Brussels. Energy prices had already shot to the top of the EU’s political agenda on fears over the region’s declining competitiveness compared with China and the US.