{"id":454544,"date":"2026-05-22T12:35:38","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T10:35:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/05\/22\/iran-e-caro-energia-landamento-delleconomia-preoccupa-leurogruppo\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T15:54:27","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T13:54:27","slug":"iran-war-and-soaring-energy-prices-eurogroup-concerned-about-the-outlook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/05\/22\/iran-war-and-soaring-energy-prices-eurogroup-concerned-about-the-outlook\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran war and soaring energy prices: Eurogroup concerned about the outlook"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013Cautious optimism.<\/strong> Europe, grappling with the crisis triggered by the war in Iran \u2014 marked by soaring energy costs and economic fallout \u2014 is a worried continent. The Eurogroup meeting in Cyprus becomes an opportunity to showcase this conflicted mood, with the European Union and the eurozone caught between discouraging, though not catastrophic, numbers and the spectre of what may yet unfold. Discussions begin with the European Commission’s economic forecasts<\/a>, which show reduced but still present growth. Yet, Kristupas Vaitiekunas<\/strong>, Lithuania\u2019s Minister of Finance, admits, \u201cI am concerned<\/strong>\u201d about the situation.<\/p>\n

 On the one hand, there is the national perspective: \u201cIn April, inflation in Lithuania reached 5.1 per cent,\u201d the Lithuanian minister explains. On the other hand, more generally, \u201clow growth and high inflation is the worst economic situation one can have.<\/strong>\u201d In this context, \u201cwe must choose between helping the economy grow or helping to keep prices stable.\u201d<\/p>\n

 The Eurogroup meeting in Cyprus provides an opportunity for the finance ministers of the EU countries using the single currency to discuss matters with the President of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde<\/strong>, who shares their concerns: even though at present \u201clong-term inflation forecasts are well anchored\u201d around the stability target of around 2 per cent, there is no denying that \u201cthe energy shock is serious<\/strong>, because it has direct and indirect effects on our economy,\u201d she explained during the post-meeting press conference. Furthermore, \u201ceven if the war [in Iran] were to end today, the effects would continue<\/strong> because we need to restore the pre-war conditions;\u201d that is to say, rebuild what has been destroyed in terms of infrastructure. <\/p>\n

Lagarde, however, is not giving any hint about the ECB Governing Council<\/a>‘s moves on 11 June, when it will have to decide on whether to raise interest rates: “We are continuing to monitor the data,” she reiterates. <\/p>\n

The comments from Eurogroup President Kyriakos Pierrakakis<\/strong> are also not particularly reassuring. Admittedly, he admits that a stagflationary situation is emerging, even though, for now, the EU and the eurozone know how to respond<\/a>. Nevertheless, “pressure is mounting<\/strong> on energy and fertilisers, which are essential for agricultural production and the economy.” In this climate of widespread concern, it falls to the Executive Director of the ESM, Pierre Gramegna<\/strong>, to try to reassure: “We cannot speak of either stagflation or recession.<\/strong>” It is this assessment of the situation that, more than any other, helps us to look with a little confidence \u2013 or hope? \u2013 at a time when there is no shortage of concerns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Cyprus meeting highlighted widespread concerns about the current situation and the outlook. Lagarde: \u201cThe energy shock is serious.\u201d Pierrakakis: \u201cPressure is rising.\u201d Lithuania: \u201cIn the worst possible economic condition.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":494,"featured_media":454490,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25705],"tags":[26112,26152,25994,26151,25828,26107,33066],"class_list":["post-454544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-bce-en","tag-christine-lagarde-en","tag-eurogroup-en","tag-bank-central-en-en","tag-eurozone-en","tag-inflation-en","tag-kyriakos-pierrakakis"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/494"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454544"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454544\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":454545,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454544\/revisions\/454545"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/454490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}