Šefčovič stood up to Trump, Kremlin laughs – euractiv.sk



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The European Commission supported the United States in criticizing the new Russian gas pipeline. "In many arguments raised by the US side, we are in agreement on the diversification of gas routes or the preservation of the transit route through Ukraine after 2019," said the Vice President of the European Commission for the Energy Union. Marcus Šefčovič's talks with TASR after talks with US Energy Minister Rick Perry

Šefčovič admitted that the US delegation to the EU-US Energy Council talks on Thursday 12 July continued to criticize Nord Stream 2. The planned pipeline from Russia to Germany, bypassing traditional transit countries such as Ukraine, Poland and Slovakia.

In front of President Perrym, US President Donald Trump criticized NATO during the meeting. Germany has read that Russia is paying billions of euros for natural gas, while it can not significantly increase defense spending. Angela Merkel's office reported that it is becoming more commercial and dependent on the country before NATO and the United States defend it

The Kremlin denied that the Germany would be "captured" by Russia, like Trump. At the same time, the US president accused him of trying to push Europeans to buy US gas. The spokesman of the Russian president also did not deny the irony of the US chances of selling LNG because of the lack of import terminals in Eastern Europe and the price lowest of Russian competition by pipelines

Perry, US Secretary of State, echoed the words of President Trump at the NATO summit. "The United States does not support pipelines such as Nord Stream 2 and Turk Stream multi-lane, which will only increase dependence on a single source of supply ", said Mr. Perry to reporters.

On the contrary, they support the construction of the South Pipeline, which will ensure the supply of Caspian gas in Italy, as well as expanding opportunities for the sale of liquefied gas imported from America. "This represents great opportunities for Europeans.Trump President believes that Nord Stream 2 is not in the best interest of the EU," Perry said.

According to the US government database, US LNG exports increased from 0.5 billion cubic feet per day in 2016 to $ 94 billion in 2017. But more than half of these exports go to three countries – Mexico, South Korea and China.

Šefčovič: no political requirements

The Americans only supplied 2.2 billion cubic meters of LNG to Europe last year, the latest year. last year, it consumed about 480 billion cubic meters of gas

Russia contributed 41% to the import of natural gas in the European Union

Gas deliveries to Europe are so minimal, said Commissioner Šefčovič. He adds, however, that "conditions for improvement are needed after the completion of the export infrastructure in the United States and after the completion of projects in Europe such as the Krk terminal or the United States. interconnections between Bulgaria and Greece ". The American side is aware that it will have to be competitive on the European market with a better price and a better quality of service.

"We are very honored to have it without any political claim," Mr Šefčovič said in the United States. He admitted that the price of LNG was up to here higher than for natural gas, but Americans said they believed in technological change and that they had already significantly reduced their extraction and transportation costs of LNG. And they realize that they will have to be able to compete with the prices of natural gas in Europe

Peskov: It's an unfair competition

After the appearance of Trump against Nord Stream 2 , voices were heard that the United Press were clear states to sell liquefied US gas. Šefčovič says that the decisive word will be the market

The spokesman of Russian President Dmitry Peskov also called on the markets to decide. "We see this as a matter of competition and individual customer decisions," he said at a conference with European journalists. (19659003) Trump's statement called the Kremlin spokesman for an effort to step up the US campaign against Russian supply to Europe and replace them with American

"Regarding the Germany's reliance on the United States, (Russia) as the main customer, we can not agree with this premise, "Peskov said in an interview with European journalists. "Pipeline gas deliveries do not lead to dependence from one country to another, but to total interdependence.This is a guarantee of stability and future development," he said. spokesperson of the Russian president. [ad_2]
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