European Union

[LFC]

Clearly the EU is a bit desperate with Putin flexing the very muscles they allowed him to build.

Raise your hand if you had this on your 2022 bingo card: Natural gas is now climate-friendly.

On Wednesday, the European Parliament rejected a motion that would have excluded some nuclear and gas projects from the bloc’s list of “environmentally sustainable economic activities,” which are intended to help increase investment in climate- and environment-friendly undertakings and prevent greenwashing. The highly anticipated vote, which came after months of heated debate, will allow investments in gas and nuclear technologies to be classified as “green,” opening the door for those projects to access a huge range of subsidies and loans.

The decision is mostly a rhetorical one, and there are some guardrails on both technologies in terms of which projects could count as “green.” Still, the vote, if accepted by the EU’s member states, would mark a major shift in how the bloc, once a leader in green energy, considers its energy transition—and shows how the Russian war in Ukraine is rattling climate policy. Ironically, as the taxonomy itself is intended to prevent greenwashing, the inclusion of natural gas also could spell big trouble for the EU’s aggressive climate goals.

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There are lots of people who are furious but the fact is that the EU must now pay for their dependence on Russia, and that payment includes backtracking on climate change policy.

[LFC]

Part of the terrorist rocket attacks will achieve one of Putin's goals in helping screw European nations on the energy front.

Dr Maria Shagina 🇺🇦
@maria_shagina

Ukraine will suspend the export of electricity to the EU after 🇷🇺missile attacks today. Ukraine's energy system got destabilized, many regions are facing outages. The export of electricity from Ukraine was instrumental for the EU to reduce the dependency on Russian energy sources

And as predicted...

President Vladimir Putin has said the gas taps can be still turned on for Russian supplies to the EU, despite sharp political disagreements.

Russia has not delivered gas to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 line since August, and Nord Stream 2 was halted after Russia invaded Ukraine.

The February invasion led to gas price hikes, and EU customers face record tariffs this winter.

But Germany quickly rejected Mr Putin's offer to send gas via Nord Stream 2.

At the same time, a government spokesman in Berlin said Nord Stream 1 - which is not under sanctions - was an option, but gas was not flowing "because Russia did not deliver".

Russia has been accused of using gas supplies as a weapon against the West since the invasion of Ukraine - a charge repeatedly denied by the Kremlin.

"The ball, as they say, is now in the European Union's court - let them just open the tap," Mr Putin said on Wednesday at the annual Russian Energy Week in Moscow.

"We do not limit anyone in anything," he said, adding that Moscow was ready to supply additional volumes of gas in the autumn-winter period.

But despite Mr Putin's words, a resumption of gas supplies to Europe seems unlikely.

[LFC]

This is from a speech given by Josep Borrell, whose full title is High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, to a group of EU ambassadors. Somebody just handed out a big dose of reality.

"You - the United States - take care of our [🇪🇺]security. You - China and Russia – provided the basis of our prosperity. This is a world that is no longer there."

"I think that we Europeans are facing a situation in which we suffer the consequences of a process that has been lasting for years in which we have decoupled the sources of our prosperity from the sources of our security."

Europe is realizing that they need to prepare for their own security and that large-scale war is still possible. There's definitely some hand-wringing over not believing Putin would invade Ukraine. And clearly they aren't happy about the control over their nations that they've handed to Russia over the years.

[LFC]

Thinking on how to pull Moldova further into the European sphere. As is so common for nation's under Russia's thumb, they're getting f***ed.

As Russia prosecutes its war on Ukraine, it is active on many fronts to shore up its position. One of these is the energy warfare it is conducting against EU candidate state Moldova, which is especially vulnerable to this sort of attack. Not only is the country entirely dependent on Russian gas, but the Kremlin is eager to undermine President Maia Sandu’s pro-European government in any way it can – and to punish Moldova for supporting Ukraine in the war. Russia reduced gas supplies to Moldova by 30 per cent on 1 October, and the Kremlin could still cut off its pipelines to the country altogether. So, the Moldovan government is facing three big problems as winter approaches. The first is surviving the Kremlin’s political pressure beyond energy. The second is finding alternative gas supplies. And the final challenge is finding them at affordable prices.

Sandu’s government has faced coercion from Russia ever since it took office in August last year. In October 2021, Gazprom – which provides all of Moldova’s gas through pipelines from the east – increased gas prices and reduced supply to Moldova, leading the government to declare a state of emergency. Moldova had barely recovered from that crisis when Russia launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine on 24 February. Political pressure then built up over the summer, with fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor’s Moscow-backed political party leading largely astroturfed street protests. Senior officials from the Shor Party visited Moscow in September in search of political and media support. Soon afterwards, the demonstrations evolved into a permanent camp outside the presidential administration, featuring slogans such as “No to a Cold War, No to a cold Winter”.

Economic pressure ramped up at the same time. Last year, Gazprom gave Moldova an initial price of $450 per thousand cubic metres of gas dependent on spot market prices for both gas and oil. Dramatic increases in these prices, especially for gas, saw them rise to $1,883 by September this year. They fell to $1,028 by 1 October, but household energy tariffs have nevertheless gone up six-fold in a year, with the latest increase kicking in at the start of the month – just as Russia announced the squeeze in supply.

These soaring energy prices have contributed to inflation of 34 per cent, which was exacerbated by general supply shortages. (Without normal trade with Ukraine, there are only five main crossing points with Romania.) The result has been widespread energy poverty in Europe’s poorest country. To ease the cost of living, the government has put together short-term relief packages costing 5 billion lei (or €250m) – a huge sum for Moldova.

[LFC]

Viktor Orban continues to suck up to Putin as he screws Ukraine. Fascists of a feather...

[jackd]

The EU action (or lack of it) shouldn't prevent EU members who are NATO members from contributing as NATO members.

[LFC]

Viktor Orbán just received a swift kick in the teeth from the EU.

Dave Keating
@davekeating

Today at noon: 🇪🇺Commission will announce an unprecedented denial of €7.5 billion in EU budget funds from #Hungary over #Orban's #RuleOfLaw violations and corruption.

Will need to be approved by a majority vote of countries. 🇵🇱&🇮🇹 may vote against, but it has the votes to pass.
In retaliation, #Orban has threatened to veto further 🇪🇺aid to #Ukraine, including an €18 billion aid package 🇺🇦desperately needs right now. Hungary also blocking a proposal for a minimum tax on multinational companies.

Will this prompt reform of Council's unanimity traditions?

They seem to have enough. This move is big, harsh, and requires total adherence. I assume that this has been brewing for years, with Orbán ignoring a multitude of warnings and moving ahead with his autocratic plans. 

"#Orban is receiving the €7.5bn bill from Brussels for the systematic dismantling of democracy over the past 12 years," says @daniel_freund, the MEP negotiator for the Rule of Law Conditionality Mechanism.

"EU money may now only flow after real reforms have been implemented."

Crucially, release of Hungary’s EU funds will be ‘all or nothing’.

Budapest has been tasked 27 "super milestones" to meet undoing #RuleOfLaw violations. No partial payments per task - all 27 must be completed to get any 💶.

🇪🇺Commission using 2 instruments to deny funds to #Hungary:

💶Rule of law conditionality mechanism to freeze €7.5bn in cohesion funds
💶Covid recovery funding conditionality to freeze €5.8bn

Total denied to #Orban: €13.3 billion

Maybe Orbán can implement Budapexit. It worked out so well for the Brits.

[LFC]

I'm shocked!

Four European Union leaders have been charged with participation in a criminal organization, money laundering and corruption, tied to alleged bribes from FIFA World Cup host Qatar.

Raids on diplomats’ homes in Brussels and Strasbourg, where the EU parliament meets, uncovered “bags of money.”

Greek EU vice president Eva Kaili—who is languishing in a Belgium jail with three other leaders—was stripped of her position by senior European leaders on Tuesday and all four will face a court on Wednesday. The assets of Kaili and her family members in Greece have been frozen while the investigation continues.

Kaili made several trips to Qatar in recent years and has campaigned for Qatari citizens to be granted visa-free travel to the European Union, citing them as a “front runner in human rights,” despite reports that as many as 6,500 migrants died while the nation prepared to host the World Cup.

[goldenvalley]

The Guardian reports that the EU is sending 3.5 million Euros to Syria even though technically the EU sanctioned that country for previous activity.  Another 3.0 million Euros to Turkey.  At least last summer the American dollar and the Euro were equal 1 for 1, so that's $3.5 M and $3 M.

The death toll is climbing.  It'll be months before they can dig out every body.  Where will all the survivors live?  Europe is going to have to absorb some people and most countries in Europe don't like doing that, not people from the Middle East who are Muslim.