Washington is threatening to sanction companies working on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. What should the European Union do?
Extraterritorial sanctions continue to grow and have become a privileged weapon of American diplomacy which wants to sanction those who do not follow its political line vis-à-vis Iran or Russia. This is considered more and more unacceptable by a growing number of Europeans. The clearest awareness is certainly on the side of Berlin, on the front line with Nord Stream 2, and this is also true for the European institutions. One would have thought that with the departure of Donald Trump, things would have changed and it is not because this policy is the result of the American Congress which puts pressure on the executive. We must therefore react early and prevent this cycle by placing ourselves first at the political level. We did it with Reagan, in a gas pipeline affair in 1982, and with Clinton – on Iran and Cuba – who ended up suspending the Helms-Burton legislation. Above all, we want a preventive approach.
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