EU’s $750bn energy pledge to US ‘not feasible’ – Borrell

https://www.rt.com/news/622478-borrel-eu-us-energy-pledge/

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The bloc’s former top diplomat has joined a chorus of officials slamming a deal brokered by the European Commission president

The EU will be not meet the commitments it made under a recent trade deal with the US, according to former bloc foreign policy chief Josep Borrell. In an interview with EUObserver published Monday, Borrell questioned the bloc’s capacity to purchase the promised volume of American natural gas.

US President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen finalized a wide-ranging trade agreement in July, concluding months of negotiations between Washington and Brussels.

The pact imposes a 15% tariff on most EU exports to the United States and ties the bloc to buying $750 billion worth of US oil and gas and investing $600 billion in the American economy over the next three years.

Von der Leyen “surrendered” to a lopsided US trade deal out of fear that Washington might reduce military support for Ukraine or even withdraw American forces from Europe, according to a Sunday Times report.

Importing such an amount of gas is “simply not feasible,” Borrell said, adding that “the EU doesn’t buy gas, companies do.” He also warned that the deal contradicts the bloc’s domestic goals.

Claiming the bloc wants to boost its own defense industry while pledging to buy US weapons is “the same as claiming we have a green strategy while tripling gas purchases,” he added.

The agreement reflects a flawed strategy, he claimed, more of a surrender than a negotiation that makes the EU appear weak and overly submissive to Trump’s demands. According to him, Brussels is “selling the deal as the least bad option.”

“The US threatened 30% tariffs, then offered 15%, and we’re expected to be grateful,” he said, calling the deal an example of “the old strategy of bullies.”

Several other European officials have slammed von der Leyen over the perceived imbalance of the agreement.

Veteran French politician Marine Le Pen labeled the deal a “fiasco.” French President Emmanuel Macron reportedly voiced dissatisfaction with the outcome, saying the EU is “not feared enough.”

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has accused von der Leyen of overstepping her authority by allegedly committing the bloc to large-scale US arms purchases, saying that Trump “ate her for breakfast.”