Charles van der Leeuw
"Europe’s Sanctions Charade: Profits, Politics, and Hypocrisy in the EU’s Russian Oil Game"
"Behind closed doors, the EU funds the war it claims to fight — with gas deals, arms imports, and backroom bargains."
EU’s chief warhawk under multiple suspicion as multinationals allowed to dodge so-called sanctions against Russia
The overall pattern is bizarre to put it mildly. The European Commission and its Parliament let no opportunity unused to pull the EU further and further towards Ukraine’s battlefield facing Russia. So-called sanctions against the Russian Federation are piling up to the extent that nobody can see any sense in them. Now, Brussels’ oligarchs want everyone accused of violating them behind bars – which, if pursued, might well include themselves in the end.
https://www.deutschland.de/en/news/ticker-solidarity-with-ukraine
The overall pattern is bizarre to put it mildly. The European Commission and its Parliament let no opportunity unused to pull the EU further and further towards Ukraine’s battlefield facing Russia. So-called sanctions against the Russian Federation are piling up to the extent that nobody can see any sense in them. Now, Brussels’ oligarchs want everyone accused of violating them behind bars – which, if pursued, might well include themselves in the end.
https://www.deutschland.de/en/news/ticker-solidarity-with-ukraine
In Europe, Cold War II is back in full flood. While more and more member states question the futile arms and ammunition supplies to (vainly) enable Ukraine to retake the initiative on its faltering eastern front with the aim to reconquer its lost territories by force, the European Commision and its herd of horned sheep known as the European Parliament now want to monopolise sales and purchases of military hardware throughout the Union. No kickback has come to surface this far, but the entire picture is unlikely to pass the smell test.
“The largest importer in Europe was by far Ukraine, which accounted for 23% of all Europe’s imports between 2019 and 2023. The next biggest importers were the UK (11% of all European imports) and the Netherlands (9.0%),” Euronews [https://www.euronews.com/business/2024/03/11/europes-arms-imports-nearly-double-france-overtakes-russia-as-worlds-second-largest-export] reported on March 11 this year. “A majority of 55% of the arms imports by European countries between 2019-2023 came from the US, whose exports to Europe were up 35% compared to the previous timeframe analysed, 2014-2018. Other major arms imported to Europe between 2019 and 2023 came from Asia, Oceania and the Middle East. […] The US and France currently dominate global arms exports, with Washington having grown its exports by 17% between 2014-2018 and 2019-2023 and Paris by 47% in the same period.”
https://www.pressenza.com/2023/03/report-europe-rearming-as-the-us-increases-its-role-in-the-global-arms-trade/
“The largest importer in Europe was by far Ukraine, which accounted for 23% of all Europe’s imports between 2019 and 2023. The next biggest importers were the UK (11% of all European imports) and the Netherlands (9.0%),” Euronews [https://www.euronews.com/business/2024/03/11/europes-arms-imports-nearly-double-france-overtakes-russia-as-worlds-second-largest-export] reported on March 11 this year. “A majority of 55% of the arms imports by European countries between 2019-2023 came from the US, whose exports to Europe were up 35% compared to the previous timeframe analysed, 2014-2018. Other major arms imported to Europe between 2019 and 2023 came from Asia, Oceania and the Middle East. […] The US and France currently dominate global arms exports, with Washington having grown its exports by 17% between 2014-2018 and 2019-2023 and Paris by 47% in the same period.”
https://www.pressenza.com/2023/03/report-europe-rearming-as-the-us-increases-its-role-in-the-global-arms-trade/
Eurocrats’ peculiar ways of doing business
As though this were not hilarious enough, the European Parliament, elections for which are due for June this year, has stepped up efforts to crack down on what they call violators of sanctions against the Russian Federation, thereby thwarting attempts to “weaken and isolate” Russia’s economy. Who, then, are those alleged violators? Well, the largest ones include the Royal Dutch Shell (recently moved to London in order to dodge taxes in their country of origin), the Nederlandse Gasunie, Germany’s Ruhrgas, Gaz de France – just to name a few. Up to his day, amd day by day, they buy oil, oil products, natural gas and liquefied gas from Russia (in part through a gas pipeline across Ukraine for which the latter is duly paid) ;which has sent Russia’s income on hydrocarbons soaring into 2024.
“The European Parliament has adopted a directive to criminalise the violation and circumvention of EU sanctions, according to a document published on the legislative body’s website on Tuesday,” Russia Today [https://www.rt.com/business/594147-eu-criminalizes-sanctions-evasion/] reported on March 12. “It stressed that providing financial services or legal advisory services in violation of the restrictions will also become a punishable offense. […] According to the directive, courts across the bloc will be obliged to sentence individuals to prison terms of up to five years, and to issue “dissuasive” fines for companies violating or circumventing sanctions. The parliament pledged to introduce a common definition of violations, and the minimum penalties for them.” Thereby, the somewhat less than honorable EU deputies seem to press authorities to put the abovementioned enterprises’ executives behind bars…
And it does not even end there. No one less tthan Sweden’s Green Queen Greta Thunberg has exposed the Dutch government of sponsoring rather than suppressing Shell’s dealings with Russia – only to get busted by police in the process. “Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has padded her arrest record at a protest in the Netherlands, reportedly being detained twice by police after she helped block roads near the Dutch parliament,” Russia Today [https://www.rt.com/news/595532-greta-thunberg-arrested-at-dutch-protest/] reported following the incidents – which “…occurred on Saturday, when a large crowd of Extinction Rebellion demonstrators tried to block the A12 highway in The Hague. […] Extinction Rebellion claims to have blocked the A12 highway dozens of times since 2022 in protests against fossil-fuel subsidies. Saturday’s demonstration called for lawmakers to halt subsidies and tax breaks for companies with ties to fossil fuels, such as oil major Shell.”
https://energyandcleanair.org/february-2024-monthly-analysis-of-russian-fossil-fuel-exports-and-sanctions/
As though this were not hilarious enough, the European Parliament, elections for which are due for June this year, has stepped up efforts to crack down on what they call violators of sanctions against the Russian Federation, thereby thwarting attempts to “weaken and isolate” Russia’s economy. Who, then, are those alleged violators? Well, the largest ones include the Royal Dutch Shell (recently moved to London in order to dodge taxes in their country of origin), the Nederlandse Gasunie, Germany’s Ruhrgas, Gaz de France – just to name a few. Up to his day, amd day by day, they buy oil, oil products, natural gas and liquefied gas from Russia (in part through a gas pipeline across Ukraine for which the latter is duly paid) ;which has sent Russia’s income on hydrocarbons soaring into 2024.
“The European Parliament has adopted a directive to criminalise the violation and circumvention of EU sanctions, according to a document published on the legislative body’s website on Tuesday,” Russia Today [https://www.rt.com/business/594147-eu-criminalizes-sanctions-evasion/] reported on March 12. “It stressed that providing financial services or legal advisory services in violation of the restrictions will also become a punishable offense. […] According to the directive, courts across the bloc will be obliged to sentence individuals to prison terms of up to five years, and to issue “dissuasive” fines for companies violating or circumventing sanctions. The parliament pledged to introduce a common definition of violations, and the minimum penalties for them.” Thereby, the somewhat less than honorable EU deputies seem to press authorities to put the abovementioned enterprises’ executives behind bars…
And it does not even end there. No one less tthan Sweden’s Green Queen Greta Thunberg has exposed the Dutch government of sponsoring rather than suppressing Shell’s dealings with Russia – only to get busted by police in the process. “Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has padded her arrest record at a protest in the Netherlands, reportedly being detained twice by police after she helped block roads near the Dutch parliament,” Russia Today [https://www.rt.com/news/595532-greta-thunberg-arrested-at-dutch-protest/] reported following the incidents – which “…occurred on Saturday, when a large crowd of Extinction Rebellion demonstrators tried to block the A12 highway in The Hague. […] Extinction Rebellion claims to have blocked the A12 highway dozens of times since 2022 in protests against fossil-fuel subsidies. Saturday’s demonstration called for lawmakers to halt subsidies and tax breaks for companies with ties to fossil fuels, such as oil major Shell.”
https://energyandcleanair.org/february-2024-monthly-analysis-of-russian-fossil-fuel-exports-and-sanctions/
But loopholes in the sanction scheme tell a different story.
As a result of this and similar schemes in other European countries, Russia has every reason to cheer on its hydrocarbon sales to the EU. Thus, Belgium’s total LNG imports in February rose by a mere 4%, their imports from Russia saw a much more significant 44% rise. At the same time, Belgium’s re-exports of LNG rose by a massive 81% — a significant portion of which was shipped to Spain and China — pointing towards the country’s role in transhipping Russian gas globally, as reported recently by the Centre for Energy and Clean Air [https://energyandcleanair.org/february-2024-monthly-analysis-of-russian-fossil-fuel-exports-and-sanctions/]. The EU was the largest buyer, purchasing 49% of Russia’s LNG exports, followed by China (21%) and Japan (19%). No sanctions are imposed on Russian LNG shipments to the EU.
Turkey, the largest buyer, has purchased 25% of Russia’s oil product exports, followed by China (12%) and Brazil (11%), the report mentions elsewhere. The EU’s sanctions on seaborne Russian oil products were implemented on 5 February 2023. The EU was the largest buyer, purchasing 41% of Russia’s pipeline gas, followed by Turkey (29%) and China (26%). No sanctions are imposed on Russian pipeline gas imports into the EU.
As Brussels sprouts speak with double tongue, time to look into their throats
Looking at the ongoing hypocritical trace schemes, traces of treachery to both those who want war and those who want pect trace right back to the pharaonic (self-appointed – no trace of democracy here) head of the European Commission herself – and they stretch even beyond the dodgy military hardware claims she recently put forward.
“Top European prosecutors are investigating allegations of criminal wrongdoing in connection with vaccine negotiations between European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the CEO of Pfizer, according to a spokesperson from the Liège prosecutor's office,” the investigative newsreel Politico [https://www.politico.eu/article/pfizergate-covid-vaccine-scandal-european-prosecutors-eu-commission/] reported on April 1. “Investigators from the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) have in recent months taken over from Belgian prosecutors investigating von der Leyen over interference in public functions, destruction of SMS, corruption and conflict of interest, according to legal documents seen by POLITICO and a spokesperson from the Liège prosecutor's office. While EPPO’s prosecutors are investigating alleged criminal offenses, no one has yet been charged in connection with the case.”
But along with the pharmaceutic filière, parallel suspicions concerning the Ukraine link have been raised for quite some timenow. “Ursula von der Leyen is planning a new career as European Commission chief in Brussels, but the German defense minister still has questions to answer back home,” Politico wrote as early as mid-July 2019 [https://www.politico.eu/article/the-scandal-hanging-over-ursula-von-der-leyen/], just after her entry into Brussels plush Walhalla. “An investigative committee of the German parliament — the toughest instrument that lawmakers can use to probe government misdeeds — is digging into how lucrative contracts from her ministry were awarded to outside consultants without proper oversight, and whether a network of informal personal connections facilitated those deals. […] The first time the public heard about the scandal was in the fall of 2018, when internal reports by Germany’s Federal Audit Office were leaked to the media. The watchdog, which monitors German government cashflows, described dozens of irregularities in the hiring of external consultants by von der Leyen’s defense ministry. Those consultants played a more significant role than the ministry had publicly claimed, several media reports said: In 2015, for example, auditors estimated that the ministry had spent up to €100 million on external consultants, but only officially declared €2.2 million for the purpose. A year later, the ministry had spent up to €150 million on advisers while declaring only €2.9 million.”
So where could this all lead to? The best thing to do is to reverse the Maastricht treaty of 1992 back into the EEC format, albeit with preservation of the euro and the Schengen system. The European Commission must be deprived of its initiative privilege and its tasks reduced to carrying out the orders from the European Council of Ministers. As for the European Parliament, for those who intend to vote and want my advice: just don’t.
As a result of this and similar schemes in other European countries, Russia has every reason to cheer on its hydrocarbon sales to the EU. Thus, Belgium’s total LNG imports in February rose by a mere 4%, their imports from Russia saw a much more significant 44% rise. At the same time, Belgium’s re-exports of LNG rose by a massive 81% — a significant portion of which was shipped to Spain and China — pointing towards the country’s role in transhipping Russian gas globally, as reported recently by the Centre for Energy and Clean Air [https://energyandcleanair.org/february-2024-monthly-analysis-of-russian-fossil-fuel-exports-and-sanctions/]. The EU was the largest buyer, purchasing 49% of Russia’s LNG exports, followed by China (21%) and Japan (19%). No sanctions are imposed on Russian LNG shipments to the EU.
Turkey, the largest buyer, has purchased 25% of Russia’s oil product exports, followed by China (12%) and Brazil (11%), the report mentions elsewhere. The EU’s sanctions on seaborne Russian oil products were implemented on 5 February 2023. The EU was the largest buyer, purchasing 41% of Russia’s pipeline gas, followed by Turkey (29%) and China (26%). No sanctions are imposed on Russian pipeline gas imports into the EU.
As Brussels sprouts speak with double tongue, time to look into their throats
Looking at the ongoing hypocritical trace schemes, traces of treachery to both those who want war and those who want pect trace right back to the pharaonic (self-appointed – no trace of democracy here) head of the European Commission herself – and they stretch even beyond the dodgy military hardware claims she recently put forward.
“Top European prosecutors are investigating allegations of criminal wrongdoing in connection with vaccine negotiations between European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the CEO of Pfizer, according to a spokesperson from the Liège prosecutor's office,” the investigative newsreel Politico [https://www.politico.eu/article/pfizergate-covid-vaccine-scandal-european-prosecutors-eu-commission/] reported on April 1. “Investigators from the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) have in recent months taken over from Belgian prosecutors investigating von der Leyen over interference in public functions, destruction of SMS, corruption and conflict of interest, according to legal documents seen by POLITICO and a spokesperson from the Liège prosecutor's office. While EPPO’s prosecutors are investigating alleged criminal offenses, no one has yet been charged in connection with the case.”
But along with the pharmaceutic filière, parallel suspicions concerning the Ukraine link have been raised for quite some timenow. “Ursula von der Leyen is planning a new career as European Commission chief in Brussels, but the German defense minister still has questions to answer back home,” Politico wrote as early as mid-July 2019 [https://www.politico.eu/article/the-scandal-hanging-over-ursula-von-der-leyen/], just after her entry into Brussels plush Walhalla. “An investigative committee of the German parliament — the toughest instrument that lawmakers can use to probe government misdeeds — is digging into how lucrative contracts from her ministry were awarded to outside consultants without proper oversight, and whether a network of informal personal connections facilitated those deals. […] The first time the public heard about the scandal was in the fall of 2018, when internal reports by Germany’s Federal Audit Office were leaked to the media. The watchdog, which monitors German government cashflows, described dozens of irregularities in the hiring of external consultants by von der Leyen’s defense ministry. Those consultants played a more significant role than the ministry had publicly claimed, several media reports said: In 2015, for example, auditors estimated that the ministry had spent up to €100 million on external consultants, but only officially declared €2.2 million for the purpose. A year later, the ministry had spent up to €150 million on advisers while declaring only €2.9 million.”
So where could this all lead to? The best thing to do is to reverse the Maastricht treaty of 1992 back into the EEC format, albeit with preservation of the euro and the Schengen system. The European Commission must be deprived of its initiative privilege and its tasks reduced to carrying out the orders from the European Council of Ministers. As for the European Parliament, for those who intend to vote and want my advice: just don’t.
Photo by Han Schipper
Charles van der Leeuw was born in The Hague, The Netherlands, in 1952. He started working as an independent reporter on cultural issues in a wide variety of publications back in 1977. Ten years later, he settled down in war-torn Beirut as an international war correspondent, following a first experience in Iraq in 1985 which resulted in his first book on the Iraq-Iran war. After his kidnapping and release in 1989, his second book "Lebanon - the injured innocence" came out, followed, in early 1992, by "Kuwait burns" – both written in Dutch. Later in the year, he settled down in Baku, Azerbaijan, as a war correspondent. "Storm over the Caucasus" on the southern Caucasus geopolitical conflicts, came out in 1997 in the Dutch language and two years later in the first English edition. It was followed by "Azerbaijan - a quest for identity" and "Oil and gas in the Caucasus and Caspian - a history", both published in 2000, and “Black&Blue” published in Almaty in summer 2003 about the stormy rise of Russia's present-day oil and gas companies. In 2012, L’Harmattan in Paris published his book “Haut-Karabagh: la guerre oubliée du monde.’’His latest publication before this work was “Cold War II: cries in the desert - or how to counterbalance NATO’s propaganda from Ukraine to Central Asia" (Herfordshire Press, London 2015).
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