Germany and Austria say US sanction plans against Russia threaten Europe鈥檚 energy security
A new draft US Senate bill that is meant to tighten economic sanctions on Russia could threaten Europe鈥檚 energy supply security, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel and Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern have said in a joint press release. 鈥淭he threat of illegal extraterritorial sanctions鈥� on European companies 鈥渢hat participate in the development of European energy supply鈥� could not be accepted, the politicians said. The bill鈥檚 actual aim was 鈥渟elling American liquefied natural gas and ending the supply of Russian natural gas to the European market鈥� in order to 鈥減rotect US jobs in the natural gas and petroleum industries鈥�. Threatening to impose penalties on companies from Germany, Austria, and other European countries for participating in or funding 鈥渘atural gas projects involving Russia, such as Nord Stream 2, impacts European-American relations in a new and very negative way鈥�. Europe鈥檚 energy supply was 鈥淓urope鈥檚 affair,鈥� they said, urging the US State Department to continue efforts to amend the draft bill.
The Financial Times called the joint statement 鈥渦nusually strongly worded鈥�, adding that German Chancellor Angela Merkel was 鈥渓ikely to be more cautious鈥� of criticising US lawmakers, as she had 鈥渓ong been wary of the Nord Stream project, which is strongly opposed by Poland and other eastern European EU allies鈥�.
German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said Chancellor Angela Merkel shared the concern expressed in the joint statement, reports Reuters in a separate article.
Read the press release in English and the Financial Times article in English (behind paywall) and the Reuters article in English .
See the 威力彩玩法 dossier The Energiewende and its implications for international security.