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AP Photo / Virginia Mayo
The Guardian columnist Natalie Sugared explained why, in her view, the EU is not happy the new law of the USA about the sanctions against Russia.
“Instead of applauding the actions of Washington against Russia, the European Union feels rage. The Russian leader again in scoring due to the craziness around Donald trump,” she writes.
The EU representatives made it clear that he was unhappy with. The German foreign Minister said that the United States pursue their own economic interests and wanted to force Europe to buy U.S. liquefied gas. The French government has doubts that the bill meets international standards. But European Commission President Jean-CEDAW Juncker was so outraged that called for retaliation.
“In this episode, the European Union has behaved as if he teamed up with Putin against Congress.” says Sugared.
According to her, when in Brussels say that the new sanctions may not join the EU, and lead to a split in its ranks, stating that the differences exist for a long time, “deftly glossed over”.
In particular, the Europeans can’t come to a consensus on the situation of “Nord stream-2”: Central Europe and the Baltic States oppose the construction of the pipeline, and Germany, by contrast, is outraged that new US sanctions could affect this project.
Complaining about the actions of Congress, the EU contradicts their own promises, says Sugared. Two months ago, Angela Merkel argued that the Europeans should take their destiny in their own hands. From the point of view of the columnist, this means that Brussels must confront Trump. Not showing solidarity with the us lawmakers of attempting “to restrain Pro-Putin instincts” of the American President, he refuses to do it.
Sugared lists several reasons for this: in Germany, Angela Merkel waiting for a re-election and tries to listen to the business community, as well as to those who favor a more conciliatory approach towards Russia.
In France Emmanuel macron tries not to contradict the opinion, besides, he, as it turned out, was trying to Woo trump.
Central and Eastern Europe is not against the American bill, but they play a less important role than the Franco-German Alliance, and the Polish populist government deliberately friendly to the American President.
In the UK, it is fully focused on Brexit, almost entirely disappeared from the European arena, says the author.
The main cause of the conflict with Washington she calls the lack of full political debate in the EU: the European Commission is more interested in established business relations, not geopolitics, summarizes Sugared.