Austrian Сhancellor opposes American economic pressure on Europe

20.06.2017, Austria.

During the Austrian World Summit for climate on June 20, Christian Kern, the Chancellor of Austria, said that Europe should oppose US pressure on European companies participating in joint projects with Russia for supplying gas to the European market, TASS Russian news agency reported.

Gas should become the technology that will build a link to clean energy.  It is wrong to put the stake on coal. It is regrettable the US Senate last week made a decision to expand the threat of sanctions to all companies that participate in joint energy projects with Russia.  Specifically, the measure applies to the construction of new gas pipelines expected to compensate for dwindling exploration and development in the North Sea, ” said Kern.

He also called for adopting decisions which would be beneficial for Europeans and independent of the US Senate.

“I cannot accept such an approach. Europe should decide on its own how to meet its energy demand.  It is important for us to guarantee jobs in industries.  We are against the bill that has received support from the US Senate, which maintains that US liquefied natural gas is to have a new market in Europe, “ said the Austrian leader.

The US Senate on June 15 voted for a bill tightening unilateral sanctions against Russia and Iran.

The bill is now to go before the House of Representatives for approval to then be submitted to President D. Trump for signature.

It proposes to reducing the maximum period of market financing for Russian banks under sanctions to 14 days, and up to 30 days for companies in the oil and gas sector.  Sanctions will also affect metallurgy, ship-building, and mining industries.

Recently, representatives of French gas companies also issued statements condemning the sanctions imposed by the US Senate on Western European companies for their participation in the construction of the “Nord Stream-2” gas pipeline with Russia.

[These statements by French gas companies and the Austrian Chancellor, as well as the recent statement by the US President supporting the construction of the “Southern Gas Corridor” (SGC) from Azerbaijan, may mark the beginning of a new round of gas wars in Eurasia.  Yuri Byaly prepared an analysis of natural gas wars in his articles published in the “Essence of Time” newspaper (Russian:”Суть времени”).  The translation of this series of articles, Escalation of the Global Gas War, can be found on our website – Editor]

Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency

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