hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. we start in germany where soaring prices and an energy crisis have europe s biggest economy on the brink of recession. and bracing for possibly its highest inflation in 70 years this autumn. rocked by limited gas from russia and the expensive business of weaning themselves off kremlin supplies, germany s central bank has warned that the current squeeze on the cost of living is set to continue. now, the government has put in place measures to save energy with things like lighting restrictions on workplaces, and they ve been asking people to use less while filling up national gas reserves. but with reports people are using up their savings as wages fail to keep up with prices, there have been warnings of possible social unrest come the winter. so, the latest inflation figures are due out today. joining me now is holger schmieding, chief economist at the german private bank berenberg. so what can we expect? when it c
we start with the war in ukraine. we ll look at what s happening on the ground in a moment. first to sanctions. eu leaders have finally agreed on a partial embargo of russian oil imports. it will affect oil that arrives by sea. that s around two thirds of imports. this is the second day of the summit. we know that the eu has been trying to work out a way to ban russian oil imports for months. we ll get into why it s been so complicated in a minute. first, this is the president of the european commission. we decided then to have a ban now on de facto 90% russian oil imports of russian oil imports to the european union by the end of the year. and this comes at a time when we see that russia has disrupted supplies to, by now, five member states finland, bulgaria and poland but now to a company in the netherlands and a company in denmark. that message was echoed by the ukrainian foreign ministry. they said. let s look at the bigger picture. russia currently supplies about 27%
the full effect of higher rates has yet to be felt but households and businesses are coping. for now. plus ripe for transformation. how developments in al are starting to bear fruit in the push for more sustainable agriculture. we are looking at the top business stories. we start in beijing where china s president, xijinping is hosting european union leaders for their first in person summit meeting since 2019. and there is one huge number that is looming over the talks. 400 billion euros. that s roughly the size of china s trade surplus with the eu the difference between what they sell to europe, and what europe sells to china. european commission president ursula von der leyen says it s because of china s unfair support for its industries which means its products are flooding global markets and threaten to undermine europe s industrial base. china says the complaint doesn t make sense when the eu stops it from buying certain sensitive technology such as advanced ch
similar summit weapon. it follows on from a similarsummit held in weapon. it follows on from a similar summit held in may on the west coast where leaders from denmark, germany, belgium and the netherlands promised a huge ramping up of offshore wind energy in the north sea. europe has relied heavily on russian energy with germany and italy the biggest importers. last year, 40% of the eu s gas and 27% of its oil came from there, and earned 400 billion euros. in march, the eu unveiled a pathway for weaning itself off russian fossil fuels and a big part of that is shifting to green energy, as well as securing suppliers in other countries and bring in more energy saving measures. other efforts are under way. a new pipeline carrying natural gas from norway is in its final stages and is expected to turn the taps on this october. however, russian energy provider gas from hazard from this winter it will shut down
but now to a company in the netherlands and a company in denmark. that message was echoed by the ukrainian foreign ministry. they said. let s look at the bigger picture. russia currently supplies about 27% of the eu s oil together with its gas exports, russia gets around 400 billion euros from the eu every year. bethany bell is at the talks in brussels on how this will hurt. i think it s likely to be extremely tough. if you think about this oil embargo, plans were announced by ursula von der leyen for this proposal for an oil embargo at the beginning of may, and it s taken weeks of acrimonious negotiations to get an agreement today. gas is likely to be a far more complicated matter and a subject for another day, but in principle, the eu says