ECB Warns High Energy Costs Are Hurting Cyprus Businesses

The European Central Bank (ECB) has recently published an incisive policy paper detailing how Europe’s disjointed energy framework continues to put firms at risk through high and disparate energy costs. The report raises significant concerns for Cyprus, where industrial electricity prices substantially outpace those recorded by many of its EU counterparts.

Rising Energy Costs For European Firms

According to recent data from Eurostat, Cyprus recorded the second-highest electricity prices for non-household consumers in the EU during the second half of 2025 at €24.29 per 100 kilowatt-hours. Only Ireland reported higher prices at €25.52, while Germany followed at €22.64. By comparison, electricity prices were significantly lower in Finland and Sweden at €7.48 and €9.70 respectively, highlighting the cost disparities facing industries across the bloc.

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Structural Vulnerabilities And Broader Implications

The ECB paper, titled Energy Security and Industrial Competitiveness: The Case for a European Energy Union, argues that Europe’s dependence on imported fossil fuels continues to expose the region to geopolitical risks and long-term competitiveness challenges. The report notes that electricity and gas account for roughly 22% of industrial energy use in Cyprus, compared with 87% in Luxembourg. At the same time, the ECB said retail energy prices across Europe remain highly fragmented despite signs of convergence in wholesale gas markets.

Economic Impact On Firms And Policy Recommendations

Medium-sized companies across the EU paid an average of €0.19 per kilowatt-hour for electricity and €0.06 for natural gas during the second half of 2024, according to the ECB study. Businesses in Cyprus, however, continue paying substantially more for electricity than firms operating in lower-cost markets such as Finland. ECB analysts also noted that larger corporations are often better positioned to secure lower energy prices through long-term agreements, preferential grid access and tax exemptions, while smaller companies remain more exposed to market volatility.

Path Forward: Toward A European Energy Union

Looking ahead, the ECB underscores that the shift towards renewable energy will require a more integrated infrastructural approach across Europe. The authors advocate for a robust European Energy Union, laying out five policy priorities: expanding cross-border electricity infrastructure, enhancing green finance mechanisms, investing in grid digitalisation and storage, harmonising energy taxation, and developing a coherent industrial strategy for clean technologies. For Cyprus, these measures are particularly vital given its exposure to high electricity costs and limited interconnection with larger EU networks.

Strategic Investments And Future Resilience

Separately, independent power transmission operator Admie recently secured approval to seek funding from the European Investment Bank for a due diligence study related to the Greece-Cyprus electricity interconnector project.

The initiative, supported through discussions involving Cypriot, Greek and EU officials, aims to refine the project’s technical and economic framework while attracting additional investment. The ECB concluded that a more integrated European energy framework would strengthen both energy security and industrial competitiveness across the region.

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Women Make Up A Majority Of The EU’s Science And Technology Workforce But The Real Gap Is Elsewhere

by News Editor

June 25, 2026

Women now make up the majority of the EU’s science and technology workforce. According to Eurostat, in 2025, more than 81.6 million people aged 15 to 74 were employed in science and technology occupations across the EU. Of those, 52.5% were women, equal to 42.8 million women. The number of women in these occupations rose by 27.9% compared with 2015, an increase of more than 9.3 million over a decade.

On the surface, the numbers resemble progress. However, Eurostat’s category requires context before that figure can be read accurately. The data refers to HRST, or Human Resources in Science and Technology, specifically people employed in science and technology occupations. These are roles where the main tasks require professional or technical knowledge in physical and life sciences, but also in social sciences and humanities. That definition is wider and broader than engineering, ICT, laboratory science, or high-tech research alone.

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Zooming In

The gender picture changes once the data moves from a wider definition of the workforce to the narrower scientist-and-engineer (research and manufacturing) subgroup.

Scientists and engineers represented almost a quarter of all people employed in science and technology in the EU in 2025. Eurostat describes scientists and engineers as often being the innovators at the centre of technology-led development, making them an important subgroup to focus on separately.

Women accounted for only 40.8% of scientists and engineers in 2025, despite making up more than half of the wider category. That share has increased by a mere 0.5 percentage points over the past decade. The absolute number of women working as scientists and engineers rose from 5.3 million in 2015 to 8.2 million in 2025, despite the push from national and international organisations to increase the number of women in the field. Europe has expanded the number of women in science and technology occupations over ten years. However, that expansion has not extended equally into the scientist-and-engineer subgroup, where much of Europe’s research and innovation work is conducted.

In 2025, of the 39.4 million women aged 25 to 64 working in science and technology occupations in the EU, 35.5 million worked in service activities. Only 2.7 million worked in manufacturing. Women accounted for 57.5% of science and technology employment in services, but only 31.3% in manufacturing.

In 2025, the highest shares of women employed in science and technology occupations were recorded in Latvia at 62.4%, followed by Hungary’s Great Plain and North region at 61.1%, Estonia at 60.5%, Poland’s Central macroregion at 60.4%, and Lithuania at 60.3%. No EU country recorded a majority of women among science and technology workers in manufacturing.

Break-down

Eurostat’s figures measure employment in broad science and technology occupations. They do not show job security, pay levels, management roles, promotion rates, research leadership, or whether women are concentrated in junior or senior workplace positions.

The classification of “senior” also requires additional explanation. Eurostat reports that 45.9% of science and technology workers aged 25 to 64 in the EU were classified as “senior” HRST in 2025. In this dataset, “senior” refers to workers aged 45 to 64. It does not mean senior manager, senior researcher, team lead, or decision-maker.

A high female share in the wider Human Resource Science and Technology (HRST) category does not parallel equal representation across scientists, engineers, manufacturing roles, senior posts, pay, research funding, or decision-making. These figures also reflect the occupational mix inside each country or region, not only structural progress across all areas of science and technology.

The Case Of Cyprus

Eurostat data places Cyprus’s overall science and technology employment at 37.2% of the labour force in 2025, slightly above the EU-27 figure of 36.9%, and above Greece at 26.8%, Malta at 33.9%, and Turkey at 18.2%. This figure covers the total share of the labour force employed in science and technology across all genders.

Progress Or Work-in-Progress?

52.5% in the broad category. 40.8% among scientists and engineers. 31.3% in manufacturing. Europe’s gender gap in science and technology hasn’t closed yet, and there is still work to be done to encourage and support more women to enter the field, especially in research and manufacturing.

Let’s not wait another decade for another couple of percentage points of hope.

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