pre - pandemic levels both in spain and the euro area. figures from the banco de espana's central balance sheet data office also point to a slight reduction in firms ’ profit margin ( defined as the ratio of the gross operating profit to sales ) between 2021 h1 and 2022 h1. 8 however, this change belies very high heterogeneity across sectors and firms. 9. the available supply and demand - side factor breakdowns reveal that in the euro area and spain the former are predominantly behind the rise in, and persistence of, inflation. 10. the observed stylised facts reveal some important differences compared with the united states, where inflation is currently somewhat lower. food is making a similar contribution, but that of the energy component is considerably smaller ( around 20 % ). by contrast, the contribution of the core component is larger. indeed, in august underlying inflation stood at 6. 3 %, with wage growth and the weight of demand - side factors being significantly higher. a key determinant of the economic outlook is the course of the war in ukraine and its impact on energy markets europe is particularly exposed to the economic effects of russia ’ s invasion of ukraine, given its geographical proximity, its close trade and financial ties to russia and, above all, its high dependence on fossil fuel imports from russia, with limited capacity to replace them in the short term. at the outbreak of the war, gas imports from russia accounted for approximately 40 % of european gas consumption and 10 % of its total energy consumption. the invasion of ukraine was a wake - up call for us about this vulnerability, which has materialised through the reduction of almost 85 % in the natural gas supplied via pipelines from russia. in may, this realisation led to repowereu, a plan that set two fundamental goals : to reduce, by the end of 2022, dependence on russian energy to one - third of its pre - war level ( as a prior step towards becoming fully independent by 2030 ) and to raise gas storage levels to 80 % of total capacity by 1 october. in addition, in july the european commission presented a plan to reduce europe's gas consumption by 15 % next winter. the degree of compliance with the two plans is relatively high. first, europe has partially replaced gas with other sources of energy. second, it has increased the geographical diversification of its gas imports, with more gas coming from qatar, the united states and norway. it should be borne

ensure the close involvement of all members of the board of directors and board of auditors www. bportugal. pt of bes, as well as external auditors, in fulfilment of the determinations issued as a result of the supervisory exercise. i would like to re - emphasise that the board of directors of bes comprised 25 members, the large majority of which had vast experience in the banking sector, and included representatives of other major shareholders in addition to grupo espirito santo. among these actions, i would like to point out the various interactions with credit agricole – bes ’ s key shareholder – requiring a succession plan for the board of directors, with the appointment of an independent board. this process led to the presentation by mr. ricardo salgado, in mid - april 2014, of a schedule for his succession, and a plan based on the departure of the family members from the executive body of bes. this was all clearly documented in information provided to the parliamentary committee of inquiry. second question : was the document delivered by bpi to banco de portugal on ges ’ s financial situation followed up? on 1 august 2013, bpi delivered to banco de portugal an economic assessment of ges, with special focus on espirito santo international ( esi ). the claim that banco de portugal ignored this document and shelved it is false. in fact, the information contained in bpi ’ s document was incorporated : – in the scope of supervisory investigations undertaken on grupo esfg ; and – in the context of etricc2 – the review of the major economic groups that are the banking system ’ s debtors – which was under preparation by banco de portugal in early august 2013. i would also like to remind members of parliament that, as a result of the conclusions of the three horizontal supervisory initiatives undertaken since 2011, banco de portugal decided to deepen the evaluation of the business plans of major economic www. bportugal. pt groups that were the banking system ’ s debtors, with a view to confirming that they were based on solid assumptions – the so - called etricc2. i must add that this exercise – which may now seem common or trivial – was, at the time, unprecedented in europe, in terms of its breadth and depth in the field of supervision. the non - financial arm of grupo espirito santo was among the 12 economic groups selected. at the end of november 2013, this