On Wednesday’s broadcast of Bloomberg’s “Balance of Power,” European Commission Vice President for Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight Maros Sefcovic stated that he’s “very happy” Europe’s Green Deal was an “inspiration” for the Inflation Reduction Act, but also stated that the U.S. supplying gas to Europe “was extremely important, because, as you know, we are dramatically getting rid of the fossil supplies from Russia.” And they want the U.S. to “keep it coming.”
Host David Westin asked, “[O]ne of the important parts of your policy is to develop a joint platform for buying natural gas for Europe. What does the United States have to do or U.S. companies have to do to help you get that done?”
Sefcovic responded, “The short answer would be, keep it coming. But of course, it’s much more complex than that. First and foremost, I really expressed my appreciation to our American partners, because it’s such a very important strategic meeting of President Biden with the Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, where energy security was one of the topics. Indeed, the United States and its companies supplied Europe with 56 billion cubic meters of gas, which was extremely important, because, as you know, we are dramatically getting rid of the fossil supplies from Russia. We want to diversify and we see our American partners as our natural allies in this effort.”
Later, Westin asked, “Mr. Vice President, of course, energy comes, not just from fossil fuels, but from other [sources], so-called renewables. We have the Inflation Reduction Act here in the United States, which has been something of a bone of contention so far between the EU on the one hand and the United States on the other. Where are you in trying to resolve that tension? And, as a practical matter, is the United States getting ahead of Europe in investment in renewables?”
Sefcovic answered, “I would start with the fact that we’ve been, of course, very happy that [the] European Green Deal served [as] a certain inspiration for our American partners. And I think it’s very crucial that such a big economy like [the] American one is pulling in the same direction as we in Europe to be climate-neutral by the middle of the century, because we know that the planet and the humans living on this planet, they need to tackle climate change. So, therefore, I would say, at least part of an effort is very much appreciated in Europe. Of course, there are some other elements, which we’re studying carefully, and my message to our American partners was, let’s look at IRA as an area…to build additional bridges between Europe and the United States.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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