The European Union considers new sanctions against Russia and Iran, the bill which is considered in the U.S. Congress, can damage the economic and energy interests of the EU to entail “broad and indiscriminate” “unintended consequences,” especially in efforts to diversify energy sources from Russia, reports Reuters.
The EU urged Washington to continue to coordinate with its partners of the “group of seven” and warn about unintended consequences. In Brussels stressed the importance of “all possible new measures be coordinated among the international partners to maintain unity on sanctions, which underlie the efforts towards the full implementation of the Minsk agreements”.
The European Commission has warned about possible “broad and indiscriminate” “unintended consequences”, particularly in relation to the EU’s efforts to diversify energy sources from Russia.
It is noted that the intention of the US to accept the bill due mainly to internal reasons.
Germany has already warned of possible retaliatory measures if the United States will impose sanctions on companies involved in the construction of the new Baltic sea pipeline for Russian gas.
Earlier on Saturday, July 22, on the website of the Supreme legislative body of the United States published the text of the bill. Measures should relate to the oil and gas and banking sectors of the Russian economy. The document, in particular, provides resistance to the project “Northern stream-2”.
14 Jun 98 senators out of 100 voted for the extension of sanctions. However, it later transpired that the document had been prepared in violation of procedures — bills, which can lead to an increase in revenues of the state, must first be accepted by the house of representatives, not the Senate.
As a result, 12 July, Democrats in the house of representatives of the United States Congress introduced a new version of the bill, including new unilateral sanctions against Russia and Iran. The bill was identical to that a month ago supported the Senate.
A number of major us financial and industrial conglomerates, including BP, Exxon, MasterCard, Visa, Citigroup, Ford, Dow Chemical, Procter & Gamble, General Electric and Caterpillar, have criticized the draft of the new restrictions. Also dissatisfaction expressed by European countries, who believe that the document will harm their producers.
The vote is scheduled for July 25.