Posted on 12/13/2019 10:21:59 AM PST by NorseViking
Germany on Thursday (12 December) warned Washington to mind its own business after US lawmakers gave initial approval to a bill that would sanction contractors working on a Russian pipeline to Germany. The EU also opposed sanctions against ‘companies doing legitimate business’.
“European energy policy is decided in Europe, not in the US,” Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Twitter.
“We reject external interference,” he said.
The €9.5 billion Nord Stream 2 pipeline will run under the Baltic Sea and is set to double shipments of Russian natural gas to Germany.
The German-Russian Chamber of Commerce (AHK) said the pipeline was important for the energy security of Europe as a whole and called for retaliatory sanctions against the United States if the bill passes.
“Europe should respond to sanctions that damage Europe with counter-sanctions,” said AHK chief Matthias Schepp.
Supporters of the 1,230-kilometre pipeline say it will be a reliable source of cheap energy but critics warn it could end up vastly increasing Russia’s political influence in Europe.
EU opposes sanctions
The EU joined in criticising proposed US action.
EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan said Brussels “opposes the imposition of sanctions against any EU companies conducting legitimate business”.
“The (European) Commission objective has always been to ensure that Nord Stream operates in a very transparent and in a non-discriminatory way with the appropriate degree of oversight,” he said.
Germany’s Schepp said the sanctions would end up affecting European companies more than Russia.
Half of the project is financed by Russian gas giant Gazprom, with the rest covered by its European partners: Germany’s Wintershall and Uniper, Anglo-Dutch Shell, France’s Engie and Austria’s OMV.
Despite its own diplomatic tensions with Russia, including over the murder of a former Chechen rebel in Berlin earlier this year, Germany has repeatedly defended the long-running project.
(Excerpt) Read more at euractiv.com ...
Trump’s speech was lovely but in fact Europe contribute five times as much to Ukraine. Also Europe is losing hundreds billions and a million jobs in Ukraine-related sanctions and the jobs and money mostly went to China and won’t be back.
Merkel and Macron didn’t say anything about Zelensky’s comments but I think they now learnt how thankful Ukraine is.
That’s one of reasons why publishing transcripts was a bad idea.
When the Bear gets randy and you protest Herr Merkel and he cuts your energy supply off in the middle of January I hope Trump tells you it’s your problem Sgt. Shultz, YOU Germans deal with it.
Hundreds of billions and a million jobs? I call BS.
EU exports to Russia was €120 billion in 2013. In 2016 only €72 billion. The difference is actually huge.
Excuse me A-holes....considering we’ve been paying for your security and putting our people in harm’s way to ensure your security, IT IS OUR BUSINESS.
Quit freeloading and STFU.
Good idea.
Too many busybodies in American government.
What do the Germans want with more natural gas, it’s a filthy fossil fuel that harms the green mother, they need to power their homes for heating and cooking from all that green power generated from wind and solar.
It would be fun to see the krauts banning Pelosi, Cruz and Grahamnety off European vacations over this anyway.
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