The United States is increasing natural gas supplies to Europe.
Brussels
European EU leaders will continue their debate on Friday on how EU countries can replace the fossil energy they use – and how EU citizens will be supported as energy bills continue to rise.
President of the United States Joe Biden and the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen announced on Friday morning that the United States will supply the EU with 15 billion cubic meters of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by the end of this year, in addition to what has already been agreed.
In addition, the United States will increase lng supplies by about 15 billion cubic meters annually by 2030.
According to Biden, the advantage is that Europe will be able to reduce its dependence on Russian gas.
“Russia is using energy to manipulate its neighbors and finance its war machinery,” Biden said.
The meeting will start at 11 am Finnish time. HS is closely following the date of the meeting in Brussels.
The discussions are predicted to be difficult. In particular, joint action to support EU citizens divides Member States, as some countries would like to make structural changes to the functioning of the electricity market and set a price cap for natural gas.
Spain has been the most active in this. It has reportedly threatened not to accept the meeting’s conclusions if there is no opposition from other countries.
Finland represents another camp, according to which the functioning of the market should not be interfered with but supported by citizens and companies by other means, such as direct subsidies.
Finland prime minister Sanna Marin (sd) described the night between Thursday and Friday as Russian energy being an “elephant in the living room” for the EU, a big embarrassment. Many EU countries are now regretting that they have relied too heavily on Russian energy for their energy supply.
“As long as we buy energy from Russia, we will finance the Russian war in Ukraine. That is why we have said that we want to get rid of fossil energy from Russia as soon as possible, ”Marin said at night.
Read more: Russian energy is “elephant in the living room” for the EU, says Prime Minister Marin – exiting it will require large investments
Biden attended a meeting of EU leaders on Thursday. Also the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi spoke to EU leaders via video link.
EU countries are also discussing what additional sanctions could now be imposed on Russia. It is more about supplementing existing sanctions than about new ones. In addition, the EU would like to ensure that existing sanctions are not circumvented.
Some countries would go through sanctions on energy and stop its imports from Russia. This would be difficult for Germany and Italy, among others, to accept.
Read more: President Biden: Europe must prepare for long sanctions – NATO responds if Russia uses chemical or biological weapons
Read more: The video shows Joe Biden whispering in Sanna Marin’s ear at the summit – What did the president say?
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