The EU is beginning to wake up and realise that its relationship with the U.S. has reached farcical levels of master and slave.
Remarkably, the EU is beginning to wake up and realise not only that it is more servile to the U.S. than ever before, but in fact the relationship has reached farcical levels of master and slave since the Ukraine war started. And yet, despite the EU’s chief diplomat recently refusing to be drawn into a conflict scenario with China and MEPs pathetically voting to deem Russia a terrorist state, it was not the EU which came to the conclusion. It was the French president Emmanuel Macron.
Nine whole months since the war started in February of this year, Macron is beginning to see that he has been outplayed by the incumbent buffoon in the White House. Yes, ‘Where Am I going Biden’ is actually not as dumb as he looks or acts. The true winner of the Ukraine war is America by far which has made Europe dependent on its LPG, while it is Europeans who are reduced to living like refugees in their own countries once the cost is passed on.
French President Emmanuel Macron recently travelled to Washington, D.C. this past week for the first state visit of the Biden Administration, but not before telling Australia’s 60 Minutes correspondent Bill Whitaker that relations between the historic allies were in need of a reset.
“How have relations been out of sync?” Whitaker asked.
“I think this administration and President Biden personally is very much attached to Europe,” Macron said. “But when you look at the situation today, there is indeed a de-synchronization. Why? Energy. Europe is a gas and oil buyer. The U.S. is a producer. And when you look at the situation, our industries and our households are not buying at the same price. So there is a big gap impacting purchasing power and competitiveness of our societies.”
With Russia throttling its natural gas supplies to Europe and the market in turmoil, Europe is buying more from the U.S., but at a price as much as six times what Americans pay.
“You have said that’s not how friends behave,” Whitaker said.
“Yeah, we are very much engaged together in this war for the same principles,” Macron said. “But the cost of this war is not the same – on both sides of the Atlantic. And you should – you should be very aware of that.”
But worse than simply being the slave in the relationship which prospers his master, the French president is also narked about new tax breaks which are being given to industries in the U.S. which linked to green jobs, rather awkwardly an acronym of an Irish paramilitary organisation, the IRA.
Biden’s ‘inflation Reduction Act’, is at first glance quite smart. But it will hit European companies even harder, leading many to question firstly whether it is anti-competitive under WTO rules and secondly whether Biden is hoping the new initiative will drive EU companies to relocate to the U.S. and create even more jobs for Uncle Sam.
Or IRA – new legislation designed to grow green jobs in the U.S. with tax credits for electric cars and clean energy manufacturing in North America.
“The level of subsidies is now two to three times higher in the U.S. than in Europe. We are totally aligned in this conflict. We work hard. And I think if the day after the conflict the result is to have a weaker Europe because a lot of its industry will have been just killed. I do believe it’s not the interest of the U.S. administration and even the U.S. society,” Macron said. “I think the main interest is obviously to protect your middle classes, which is a very fair one. I – I do the same for my country. And it’s to be competitive vis-à-vis China. But the result of the recent decision on this momentum, I would say, is it’s bad for Europe.”
Ursula von der Leyen agrees with him and has also been vocal about taking countermeasures to give EU companies a level playing field. But it might be too late. Such measures will take time and Biden’s agreement with Macron to “fix the problem” might be a tactic just to buy time. For many German companies, they’re not sticking around to see whether Macron’s been played or not. The EU is simply incapable of looking after the interests of its citizens or its companies. It has proved this a hundred times over and so what we are witnessing is the meltdown of the EU on many levels. And the more it indulges itself with the blinded dogma of stunts like the one in the parliament, the more Europe will sink. Old Europe needs a reset with the U.S. But will it be the EU who takes the initiative to do this with the harshest trade sanction of all – i.e. refusing to keep on sanctioning Russia’s cheap oil? Unlikely, although there are the voices out there already saying that there is a limit to how far Eu countries can go with such measures.
