Posted on 03/26/2014 7:40:00 PM PDT by blueplum
(Additional reporting by Adrian Croft, Jeff Mason and Steve Holland; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Paul Taylor)
(Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama told the European Union on Wednesday it cannot rely on the United States alone to reduce its dependency on Russian energy, as relations with Moscow chill over its seizure of Crimea from Ukraine.
Speaking on a visit to Brussels to discuss trade relations and the Ukraine crisis, Obama said concluding a new transatlantic trade pact, now under negotiation, would make it easier for Washington to license more gas exports.
:snip:
During a 65-minute lunch, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso pressed Obama to step up U.S. gas exports, but he responded bluntly in telling the Europeans they needed to take politically difficult steps to develop their own resources.
EU ambassador to Washington Jose Vale de Almeida quoted Obama as telling them: "You cannot just rely on other people's energy, even if it has some costs, some downside," in a clear reference to opposition in parts of the EU on environmental grounds to nuclear power and the extraction of shale gas.
The issue will also be discussed next week at a special meeting of EU and U.S. energy ministers, officials said.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
He still thinks he is president of the world, doesn’t he?
There is another loser, ...the Saudi group.
I wonder if he got a hint on this trip, that it might not be so:
http://treeofmamre.wordpress.com/2014/03/26/no-applause-after-obamas-sad-tired-speech-in-the-netherlands-video/
They should drop their cable and cell phone services, turn their thermostats down to 50 and wear sweaters and park their cars and ride bikes like he does.
They should put on a sweater. Oh, and make sure their tires are properly inflated.
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