Federal government criticizes US Senate for new Russia sanctions

Federal government criticizes US Senate for new Russia sanctions

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The federal government is closing against new Russia sanctions of the US Senate. Chancellor Angela Merkel, on Friday, expressly objected to the warning by Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel that no German and European company could be affected. “It is, cautiously said, an individual approach of the US Senate,” said Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert.

It is strange that the European economy is being targeted in the sanctioning of Russian behavior. “That must not be.” Economic interests and sanctions are not likely to be mixed. There was also criticism from SPD politicians and the European Commission.

The US Senate had voted on Wednesday for new sanctions against Russia. The country is thus to be punished for an interference in the presidential election in the US, the annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula Crimea and the support of the government in Damascus in the Syrian civil war. On Thursday, Gabriel criticized the possibility of putting pressure on EU companies involved in the construction of the new Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. These include, for example, BASF and E.ON and OMV from Austria.

The dispute could further burden transatlantic relations. Contrary to the termination of the Paris Climate Protection Agreement or protectionist tendencies, the criticism of the Federal Government this time was not directed against US President Donald Trump, but against the Senate, which had decided to sanction the two parties with a total of 97 votes.

Merkel, Gabriel, and Cypriots are shouldering

While on Thursday there was still some surprise in the Union that Gabriel had expressed his criticism in a joint statement with the also socio-democratic Chancellor of Austria, Christian Kern, Merkel’s spokesman now stressed that the government shared the concerns. There are “very large substantive coincidences with the text of the explanation of Gabriel”. Economic minister Brigitte Zypries also accused the US of having canceled the joint line.

“I regret the fact that the joint action of Europe and the United States on Russia and sanctions has been undermined and abandoned in this way,” said Zypries of the Reuters news agency. The EU and the USA had been denying themselves closely in the past sanctions in the Ukraine conflict.

The EU Commission followed the criticism from Germany. “It is important that possible new measures be coordinated between the international partners in order to ensure their impact internationally and to ensure the unity of the partners in the sanctions,” said a spokeswoman for the Brussels authorities.

The stumbling block is, above all, a wording in the Senate resolution, which places the sanctions directly on the promotion of American gas exports and jobs. The US has become an exporter of liquefied petroleum gas in recent years and is thus competing with the Russian gas delivered by pipelines to the EU.

Dispute over Nord Stream 2

The dispute is also about the construction of a second tube of the Nord Stream gas pipeline through the Baltic Sea, which is also controversial in the EU, which is to supply additional Russian gas to Germany and the EU. To the threat of imposing penalties on companies involved, Zypries said that it was necessary to wait and see whether President Donald Trump would follow. “If so, we have to think about what we can do about it.”

Several companies have expressed concern, Reuters learned from economic circles. BASF’s subsidiary Wintershall said on request: “We are looking at the developments at first and cannot comment on them at the moment.” The Austrian energy supplier OMV said: “We monitor the development closely but do not generally comment on current legislation.”

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Zac Berry is presently a full time editor at Market Morning. He covers the M&As and follows live market commentary. Before joining Markets Morning, Zac Berry worked with a start-up, where he worked in the capacity of a Team Leader tracking company events and results. Born in the U.A.E, he spent most of his growing up years in Dubai. Currently, he resides in U.S. and is pursuing his charter in Accountancy.

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