My Take | The pace of EU vassalisation quickens under Trump
Von der Leyen, Kallas and Baerbock have all got the new memo from Washington and are now busy doing the yellow-haired lord’s bidding
Like the vengeful furies of Greek tragedies, three top female leaders of the European Union are unleashing more war and calamities on the continent. Rather than charting a more independent course for the bloc of supposedly independent Western democracies, the re-election of Donald Trump has made them shrill even louder the better to grovel at his feet.
As usual, European Commission president and honorary American Ursula von der Leyen takes the lead.
The collapse of industries under the mounting weight of unaffordable energy costs in her home country of Germany means little, nor the rising cost of living pushing many ordinary Europeans to breaking point. Now she wants to step on their wounds and twist some more.
Despite Brussels and Washington’s insistence that China is helping Russia in its war in Ukraine by buying cheap Russian oil and gas, among other things, the EU itself still buys less than 20 per cent of LNG from Russia. Does that mean Brussels is aiding the Russian war efforts?
Acknowledging the continuing EU purchase of Russian gas, von der Leyen has come up with a brilliant idea: “Why not replace it with American LNG, which is cheaper for us and brings down our energy prices? It’s something where we can get into a discussion, also [where] our trade deficit is concerned,” she declared.
It’s a claim that has been roundly ridiculed around the world, even in the United States. It’s true the prices of abundant US shale gas have hit a bottom – in North America. But once the LNG is loaded onto tankers and has crossed over to the other side of the Atlantic, the costs could be nearly four times higher.
