EU ups energy‑security coordination

Brussels is telling Europe not to panic about fuel supplies, even as it starts preparing the kind of joint response it usually saves for a real squeeze. On April 10, the European Commission said there is no immediate risk to European Union oil and gas supply, but it still told member states to tighten coordination after recent Middle East disruptions. (energy.ec.europa.eu) That sounds contradictory until you remember how Europe buys energy now. A lot of the bloc’s gas arrives as liquefied natural gas by ship, so a conflict far from Europe can hit prices fast even before any European pipeline or terminal actually runs short. (energy.ec.europa.eu) The body handling this is the Energy Union Task Force Security, which brings together European Commission officials and national officials to compare stocks, flows, and emergency plans. The Commission said this group backed earlier findings from the Oil Coordination Group and Gas Coordination Group that supplies are still holding up. (energy.ec.europa.eu) The market is already acting like the risk is real. One April 10 market report said European natural gas prices jumped 59.4% in March 2026, with the Dutch Title Transfer Facility benchmark peaking near €70 per megawatt-hour. (financialcontent.com) Another pricing tracker put the same March increase at 59.4% month on month and said it was the fastest rise since the early-2022 shock after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. That is why Brussels is talking about coordination before there is a physical shortage: prices can do damage on their own. (focus-economics.com) The Commission has been building this response in stages. On March 27, it said European Union countries and the Commission were already reviewing oil and gas security because of ongoing Middle East disruptions, and on March 5 it held a separate meeting focused on energy security and prices. (energy.ec.europa.eu 1) (energy.ec.europa.eu 2) The playbook looks familiar because Europe used a similar one in 2022. Back then, governments mixed demand cuts, emergency coordination, and temporary profit levies after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine blew a hole in the bloc’s gas system. (euronews.com) (cnbc.com) Now five countries — Spain, Germany, Italy, Portugal, and Austria — are pushing for a new European Union windfall tax on oil and gas companies. Reuters reporting cited by CNBC said the ministers argued that price spikes tied to the Iran war could feed inflation and hit households unless some of those profits are recycled. (cnbc.com) Euronews reported on April 10 that the European Commission is considering a tax on “excessive profits,” but one unresolved question is whether profits earned outside the European Union by multinational energy companies would count. That detail matters because a narrow tax raises less money and leaves more room for companies to shift where profits show up. (euronews.com) So the European message right now is not “we are running out,” but “we do not want 2022 again.” If ships keep moving and storage stays adequate, Europe may avoid a supply crisis, but Brussels is treating a price shock, a shipping shock, and a tax fight as parts of the same energy-security problem. (energy.ec.europa.eu) (euronews.com) (financialcontent.com)