European government spending to cradle economies through the energy crisis risks causing longer-term harm by spreading fiscal help for firms and households too widely. Policymakers and economists warn that support measures may be counterproductive if they don’t follow a rule known as the three Ts:  temporary, targeted and timely. By not focusing help such as energy-bill relief on the most vulnerable businesses and families, governments may inadvertently boost the case for higher interest rates, while hobbling future budgets with greater debt-servicing burdens. Of the €200 billion already spent by euro-zone countries, around 70% of measures are untargeted, according to the EU Commission. Meanwhile, France said it will work with Germany to align aid to struggling companies.

— James Regan and Jorge Valero

What's Happening

Cap Coming | The US is expected to share a proposed price cap on Russian crude ahead of a meeting of EU ambassadors scheduled for Wednesday, we’re told. If the proposal is backed, the cap will be announced that evening, but the timing remains fluid. The mechanism would ban companies from providing shipping and services needed to transport Russian oil unless it’s sold below the agreed threshold.

Space Launchers | Germany is ready to back the development of a new generation of French-built space launchers better able to compete with the latest rockets from Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Berlin will put its weight behind future projects of ArianeGroup, as long as those programs are open to technology from European startups, people familiar with the plans told us.

Swiss-Style Pact? | The UK isn’t seeking a Swiss-style relationship with the EU, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government said, pushing back against a Sunday Times report that his administration is exploring an option that would anger many in his party. The paper said senior government figures plan to put Britain on a pathway to closer economic ties with the bloc akin to those enjoyed by Switzerland, over the next decade, sparking a backlash from Brexiteers.

Housing Headache | Twitter employees face a new battlefront in the Elon Musk era: high prices for flats in Dublin, where the company has its European headquarters. Musk’s demand that everyone return to the office is hard to accomplish in a city where prices recently topped the peak they reached in 2007, just before the economic crisis.

In Case You Missed It

Not Enough | After coming close to collapse, the COP27 climate talks in Egypt ended with a landmark deal to create a fund to pay poorer countries for the harm caused by climate change. But the fractious summit did little to advance the ambitions of last year’s COP in Glasgow to rein in harmful greenhouse gas emissions. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the agreement “marks a small step” but “much more is needed.”

Middle Ground | President Xi Jinping started his week overseas mending ties with the US, and ended it with European leaders making the case for resisting the Biden administration’s sweeping chip curbs on China. The pivot in sentiment amounts to a victory for Xi: while calls have grown to get tougher with Beijing on issues related to human rights and democracy, the US export controls have shifted the conversation from fears about China to concern about American overreach.

Russian Money | Finland and Poland will push for the assets of Russia and its tycoons frozen by the EU to be used to help rebuild Ukraine. The two countries plan to raise the issue with EU counterparts and will push the Commission to find a legal way to use the assets, Prime Ministers Sanna Marin and Mateusz Morawiecki said yesterday.

No Talks | UK Premier Sunak announced a new air-defense package for Ukraine after traveling to Kyiv on Saturday. Germany is offering Patriot missile defense systems to Poland, according to Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht, and powerful explosions shook the area around Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the United Nations atomic agency said. Read our rolling Ukraine coverage here.

Chart of the Day

France’s nuclear industry is faltering in efforts to get idled reactors running in time to escape blackouts and help Europe cope with the loss of Russian supplies this winter. Despite reinforcements brought from America to fix cracks at a dozen units, works are well behind schedule. The energy crisis may intensify if Electricite de France SA fails to restart a quarter of its nuclear plants by mid-December. The grid operator RTE warned on Friday that the risk of shortfalls in January is rising.

Today's Agenda
All times CET

• 9:30 a.m. Commissioners Valdis Dombrovskis and Margrethe Vestager take questions on EU-US Trade and Technology Council
• 10:10 a.m. Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders speaks at Annual Digital Consumer Event
• 11 a.m. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg speaks at NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Madrid
• 7:45 p.m. Commissioners Dombrovskis and Paolo Gentiloni participate in Recovery and Resilience Dialogue in the European Parliament
• German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock attends a Moldova support conference in Paris, followed by news conference with her counterparts from France and Romania and the Moldovan deputy prime minister
• EU agriculture and fisheries council in Brussels