Bloomberg reported that Europe's increasing dependence on American liquefied gas has become risky amid President Joe Biden's decision to suspend approval of new contracts to supply liquefied gas abroad.
Earlier on Friday, the White House announced a temporary moratorium on issuing permits for the export of liquefied natural gas, which for the past two years has been displacing Russian raw materials in global markets.
The decision was justified by the situation with climate change - “the main existential challenge and threat of our time”.
This move by President Biden's administration sparked a wave of criticism, including among Republicans. US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson said that President Joe Biden's decision to suspend the conclusion of new contracts to export liquefied gas helps Moscow and makes Europe dependent on Russian exports.
Bloomberg reported that Europe remained dependent on Russian gas for a long time, but it abandoned this dependence in less than two years, and gas coming from the United States became the preferred alternative. According to the agency, even before Biden’s announcement, “Europe’s rapidly increasing dependence on US LNG may have prompted Brussels to consider the seriousness of the situation, because US supplies today represent about half of Europe’s LNG imports.” Europe’s Dependence on US LNG "It will increase unless more Russian gas becomes available again."
The agency quoted Ira Joseph, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, as saying: “The danger lies in major changes in US policy in the future.”
The agency stressed that Europe had “replaced one potential obstacle with another,” making its energy system weak and unprotected.
France joins the countries that suspended aid to UNRWA
Waiting for food rations in light of the war on the Gaza Strip and countries stopping their funding to UNRWA
France announced its intention to stop its funding to UNRWA in the first half of 2024, and that it will decide what measures must be taken in cooperation with the United Nations to ensure that all transparency and security requirements are met.
The French Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Sunday that the information related to the participation of UNRWA agents in the October 7 attacks is very serious. Pointing out that the Secretary-General of the United Nations (Antonio Guterres) clearly condemned these actions.
She stressed the urgent need to take rapid and decisive action to ensure that the Agency focuses on its mandate in a spirit free from calls to hatred or violence.
The Foreign Ministry said: “We expect that the investigations that began in recent days will shed light on past events and be accompanied by concrete measures that will be implemented quickly.”
She added: “Given the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza, France has chosen to significantly increase its humanitarian support to the civilian population in Gaza and, in particular, has contributed approximately 60 million euros to UNRWA activities in 2023.”
She concluded her statement: “France did not plan to pay a new payment in the first half of 2024, and will decide when the time comes what measures must be taken in cooperation with the United Nations and major donors, to ensure that all transparency and security requirements are met.”
This announcement comes after the US State Department said that it would not provide any additional funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Refugees until these allegations were addressed , and Australia, Italy, and Canada also temporarily suspended funding for the agency.