Dumb policies mainly. Most of Europe deliberately refused long-term contracts for gas which would have locked in a lower price of gas and thought they'd get a b

Dumb policies mainly. Most of Europe deliberately refused long-term contracts for gas which would have locked in a lower price of gas and thought they'd get a better deal by throwing themselves on the mercies of the spot-price gas market. Unfortunately for them, the price of gas on the spot-market has risen many-fold because of sanctions on Russia which reduced the amount of available gas, and caused 'Ye Olde Supply and Demand' price increases. Hungary, on the other hand, continued buying gas from Russia on a long-term contract and they continue laughing all the way to the bank while their other European neighbors are screaming at the high prices of spot-market gas. Of course, those countries screaming for gas could have benefited by opening up the NordStream 2 pipeline at any time previously. But they'd better open it up soon, because Russia has said that if NordStream 2 is not opened up soon, the gas currently allocated for it will be allocated elsewhere. Meaning there wouldn't be any gas in the pipeline any more, even if the Germans suddenly decided to finally open it up. Dumb is as dumb deserves to be.