"Disguise reality": are the words of the head of the EC about the role of the United States in the "elimination of energy dependence" true?

The head of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, during a meeting with US President Joe Biden, thanked Washington for helping to eliminate energy dependence on Russia.

“You helped us enormously when we wanted to get rid of our dependence on Russian fossil fuels.

You have helped us immensely by supplying large volumes of LNG, helping us through the energy crisis,” said von der Leyen.

Biden, for his part, argued that the actions of the United States allegedly supported the energy security of Europe.

“The steps that the US and the EU have taken in recent years strengthen energy security, our economic security and, I would even say, our national security,” he said.

According to the American leader, the United States delivered to the EU twice as much liquefied natural gas "than expected."

However, Biden did not specify what volumes of LNG are in question.

As a result of the bilateral meeting, a joint statement by the President of the United States and the head of the European Commission was published on the website of the White House.

According to the document, the parties agreed to continue cooperation "to promote energy security and stability in Europe" by diversifying energy sources, reducing energy consumption and reducing "Europe's dependence on fossil fuels."

We note Europe's significant efforts to diversify its energy reserves and accelerate the energy transition, which is helping to limit the impact of the global energy crisis on Europe.

However, earlier the European Commissioner for Economics, Paolo Gentiloni, acknowledged that the European Commission admits a shortage in gas supplies, and consumers and businesses continue to face high energy costs.

• European Commission

• Gettyimages.ru

• © Alberto Pezzali/NurPhoto

“Energy prices are still well above recent years and may remain volatile, with supply shortages likely to reappear in the coming months.

That is why we intend to introduce the joint procurement tool no later than the end of the current quarter,” Gentiloni said.

The path of abandoning Russian energy resources

Recall that the decision to eliminate the EU's dependence on Russian energy imports as soon as possible was made by the leaders of the EU countries at the summit in Versailles a year ago.

After that, Brussels introduced a number of sanctions packages against Moscow, imposing an embargo on the supply of various kinds of energy sources from the Russian Federation, including coal and other solid fossil fuels, crude oil and a number of petroleum products.

In addition, the EU countries have approved a gas price ceiling of €180 per MWh.

In parallel with the actions aimed at getting rid, as they say in the EU, of energy dependence on Russia, Brussels has begun to look for alternative sources of fuel supply.

In particular, it was assumed that the United States would become one of the main suppliers of LNG to the European Union.

As the head of the American company EQT, Toby Rice, said at a conference in Abu Dhabi in mid-January 2023, the United States can arrange the supply of LNG to Europe at a price of about $380 per 1,000 cubic meters.

m under long-term contracts.

At the same time, Rice did not explain in what volumes liquefied natural gas will be supplied to the European market.

It is worth noting that before the start of the campaign in the EU to abandon Russian energy resources, Europe received pipeline gas from the Russian Federation at a price much lower than the American one.

In particular, as Russian President Vladimir Putin said in September 2021, the cost of 1 thousand cubic meters.

m under long-term contracts for the same Germany was $220.

In February of this year, Vasily Nebenzya, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN, at a meeting of the Security Council of the organization noted that as a result of the transition to the use of American LNG, the EU faced record inflation. 

“For a year after the complete severance of ties with our country (Russia.

), the GDP growth of the united Europe has stuck near zero.

At the same time, record inflation rates are measured by double-digit indicators.

Rejoicing that it jumped off the “Russian gas needle”, the EU got hooked on “hard drugs” - expensive American liquefied natural gas, ”said the diplomat.

However, the supply of American LNG, apparently, does not meet the energy needs of the European Union.

As Deputy Head of the European Commission Maros Sefcovic said in an interview with Bloomberg, in the hope of attracting new suppliers and reducing the cost of energy carriers, the EU intends to take the first steps in joint purchases of natural gas in April. 

"This will take years"

As noted by Alexander Kamkin, senior researcher at the Center for Comparative and Political Studies at IMEMO RAS, the statements by the head of the EC and the US president about the process of ridding Europe of energy dependence on Russia are "far from reality."

“Against the background of a clear deterioration in the well-being of the EU residents, von der Leyen's words of gratitude to Washington sound cynical towards them, because ensuring the well-being of Europeans is the main task of the structures of Brussels.

Such undisguised hypocrisy indicates that the EU in its decisions is completely guided by the United States, which just called on the European Union to abandon Russian energy resources.

Brussels, following these recommendations, acts to the detriment of its national interests, ”the expert said in an interview with RT.

Despite the fact that the United States, as Biden said, has significantly increased its LNG supplies to Europe, Washington will not be able to "fully satisfy all the needs of Europeans due to logistical restrictions," Kamkin explained.

• LNG terminal in Barcelona

• AFP

• © JOSEP LAGO

“There are simply not enough gas carriers to transport LNG, as well as sufficient infrastructure to receive liquefied gas in the EU.

No matter how European officials beat their chests, the EU will not be able to immediately provide itself with the necessary volumes, it will take years, ”the analyst said.

According to Kamkin, the statement by the head of the European Commission about the positive role of the United States in eliminating the EU's energy dependence on Russia is "an attempt to disguise the harsh reality" associated with the difficulties of replacing Russian gas volumes in the EU.

“Furthermore, von der Leyen probably deliberately does not mention how many years it will take the EU to replace the volumes of gas from the Russian Federation.

For example, the leadership of Germany has already recognized that at least until 2026 the FRG will not be able to do this, ”the expert noted.

At the same time, the process of replacing the volumes of pipeline gas that Russia supplied to the European Union is taking place against the backdrop of an economic recession, impoverishment of the European population and deindustrialization, Kamkin noted.

“Now we are talking not only about the fact that production is closed or moving to the United States, where energy resources are cheaper, but also about the same fate for companies in the European military-industrial complex.

As a result, the EU states will find themselves in complete military dependence on the United States, to which they will be forced to pay for their security, ”the analyst believes.

Sergei Pravosudov, Director General of the National Energy Institute, expressed a similar opinion in a conversation with RT.

According to him, against the background of the energy crisis in the EU, European business "flows to the United States, which are the beneficiaries of this process."

“And this does not come from a good life in the European Union.

The business is suffering due to high electricity prices.

Energy-intensive industries are also transferred to the States from the EU, otherwise they are simply closed.

Residents of the European Union under such circumstances can only be regretted, since Brussels is forcing the European inhabitant to pay for the political ambitions of Washington in the confrontation with Russia, including by significantly raising energy prices, ”the expert noted.

As for the statement by the head of the EC during a meeting with Biden, Pravosudov believes that von der Leyen greatly exaggerates the role of the US administration in the process of supplying LNG to the European Union.

“Liquefied natural gas is supplied by American companies more actively to where the market prices are high.

Due to the fact that Europe provided a record cost of energy carriers, American LNG sailed to them in larger volumes.

But it is a mistake to believe that this is the merit of the US administration, since American companies supplying LNG to the EU are not state-owned, but private, acting in their own interests, ”the analyst stated.

At the same time, according to Pravosudov, next winter the European Union may face an even more massive energy crisis.

“The situation could be drastically aggravated if the winter months are not as abnormally warm as this year.

Then European officials will even more actively urge the EU population to tighten their belts and reduce gas consumption.

In this scenario, even more large-scale deindustrialization will cover Europe, which will have an extremely negative impact on its economy, ”the expert concluded.