As winter approaches, governments across Europe have been frantically drafting aid programs to protect their citizens from the surge in energy costs triggered by Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. There are electricity price caps in France, gasoline discounts in Italy and heating-bill subsidies in Germany.

These measures are costing a lot of money, notching up a tab in the hundreds of billions of euros, and swelling the region's financing needs well above historical norms for a fourth straight year. The problem with it all is that unlike the past eight years, when the European Central Bank was happy to print money and buy as many bonds as needed, governments will have to find new financiers.