Are we ready for the next gas crisis? Europe’s energy security in 2026
Europe enters the summer months with gas storage standing at 62 per cent — comfortably above the five-year average for this time of year, and well ahead of the 90 per cent target mandated for 1 November. The narrative surrounding the bloc’s energy security has shifted decisively since the darkest months of 2022.
Yet a closer examination of the fundamentals reveals continuing structural fragility. LNG import capacity has expanded impressively, but the bloc remains a price-taker in a global market that has tightened as Asian demand recovers. Domestic production is in irreversible decline.
The strategic question for the Commission is not whether the lights will remain on next winter — they almost certainly will — but whether the structural drivers of European competitiveness can survive sustained gas prices two to three times higher than the US benchmark.
That is the conversation which the post-2027 energy strategy must address.
