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Avoiding the issue of reducing consumption is doing Europeans a disservice, said Elisabetta Cornago, an energy policy researcher at the Centre for European Reform. “It's failing to actually help consumers make the link between their energy bills, the energy insecurity that we are potentially facing and the war in Ukraine.”
A mix of clear messaging and financial incentives could make voluntary energy-saving “palatable” to consumers, she added. “It might be better to do this than reach a point where you need to actually restrain consumption.” 

The Centre for European Reform argues not for a doubling but a tripling down on green investments in Europe, including by fresh joint borrowing modelled on the Recovery and Resilience Facility “to focus on energy that is green and secure, that is on projects that can rapidly reduce the need for imported fossil fuels.

Sanctions are very much in vogue, so I asked Ian Bond of the Centre for European Reform, if the US should sanction China for its cyber provocations. He said it depends: “Intrusions for espionage purposes [commercial or against the state] are annoying, but part of the normal business of states.” Offensive action, on the other hand, such as “strikes that cripple critical national infrastructure, might rise to the level of an act of war if they cause casualties,” Bond added.

“The main problem is that these measures [energy tax cuts] to keep energy prices low will also suppress incentives for energy efficiency, for investment in green energy generation, and for electrifying sectors that currently rely on fossil fuels — so they could make the long-term pain of adjustment harder,” Cornago said.

"Most of the studies leading up to the DMA recognize that gatekeepers' privileged access to data is a key reason why they have entrenched market power. There are legitimate concerns, too, that gatekeepers are withholding information from their business users to keep the market opaque," Zach Meyers, a research fellow at the Centre for European Reform, said.

“As the conflict escalates, maintaining European and Western unity is likely to become more difficult – not least because Putin will try to undermine it in every way he can,” analysts at the Centre for European Reform wrote this week.“So far, support for Ukraine has seemed relatively risk-free for European publics. But Putin will do all he can to change this perception and curtail European military assistance to Ukraine.”