The Condescending EU Runs Into A Brick Wall, Providing An Illustration of Everything Wrong with the West Today

Back in April, Reuters reported the European Union intended to punish anyone attempting to do business in the EU unless they bled green (emphasis added):

The European Parliament voted on Wednesday for a new law that will require larger companies operating in the bloc to check if their supply chains use forced labour or cause environmental damage and act to take action if they do.

EU lawmakers backed the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) by 374 votes to 235 against, with 19 abstentions.

The directive places new requirements on companies to fully audit "upstream" partners in design or manufacture, and "downstream" partners who transport, store and distribute products…

Companies will also have to prepare plans setting out how they will transition to a low carbon economy.

“You will do as we instruct you,” the EU tells its suppliers

That caused a stir, of course, but the haughty leadership of the EU told everyone not to worry; the regulations would be massaged and softened to ensure no harm. Curiously, the countries most affected didn’t believe it and had their own ideas.

That much became apparent with another Reuters story:

Qatar will stop shipping gas to the EU if member states strictly enforce a new law cracking down on forced labour and environmental damage, Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi told the Financial Times in an interview published on Sunday…

"If the case is that I lose 5% of my generated revenue by going to Europe, I will not go to Europe. I’m not bluffing, Kaabi told the newspaper, adding that "5% of generated revenue of QatarEnergy means 5% of generated revenue of the Qatar state. This is the people's money,  so I cannot lose that kind of money - and nobody would accept losing that kind of money."

Kaabi, the chief executive of state-owned QatarEnergy, has said the EU should thoroughly review the due diligence law. He has also said that his Gulf country has no concerns about U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's promise to lift a cap on liquefied natural gas exports.

A few observations, if I may:

1. Notice how Reuters phrases both stories to suggest the EU is doing the right thing and those damned Mideast players are just refuse to go along. One would suppose the EU initiative is only prohibiting forced labor and preventing environmental damage when, if fact, it’s also imposing the EU’s incredibly stupid climate policies — the policies that are causing widespread deindustrialization and the slow death of Europe — on businesses and nations outside the EU. The arrogance of the EU bureaucrats is nothing less than stupendous.

2. Qatar, which is hardly a friend of the West, is simply acting rationally. If Europe wants its gas it can have it but that doesn’t mean it gets to set the price in a seller’s market. Moreover, that seller’s market was created in part by the EU’s failure to develop its own resources and seek, instead, to pose as green virtue signalers while depending on Russian gas. The Russian gas a poor bargain as it turns out and now the EU has to go to places such as Qatar or, buy from U.S. suppliers to ensure its energy security. These are the idiots across the big pond.

3. Isn’t it interesting that Qatar has no issue with Trump’s plans to sell LNG around the world? Qatar would say that, of course, as part of the bluff that it says it isn’t doing. Regardless, the EU is no position to test the bluff. It has no options but to back off or depend on Qatar, Russia or us. Given those three possibilities, the EU, of course, will reluctantly choose to buy its LNG from places such as Pennsylvania or Texas with no restrictions, and the irony is that had Joe Biden been re-elected it would have been forced to go to Qatar or Russia or some other enemy. Such is the fate of the prideful who imagine they can dictate to others merely by putting their virtue signaling onto paper.

The EU is the template for everything wrong today, isn’t it?

#EU #EuropeanUnion #LNG #Qatar #Russia #Deindustrialization #US #NaturalGas

B