Europe is watching and preparing counter-moves after the vote by a very large bipartisan majority in the US Congress which imposes new sanctions on Russia but also on Iran and North Korea. President Donald Trump has said that he will sign the measure which in any case binds him in his freedom to maneuver in relations with the Kremlin which the US parliament wants to penalize both for unlawful meddling in US presidential elections and for the annexation of Crimea.
Moscow's reaction was not long in coming: Vladimir Putin announced the expulsion of 755 American diplomats from Russia in retaliation for the sanctions against Moscow approved by the US Congress. The Russian president's announcement confirms Moscow's tough fist and comes despite the fact that the provision has not yet entered into force. The text of the bill is in fact on the table of President Donald Trump who, despite having pledged to sign it, has not yet done so. “He has clearly said that he will do it,” Vice President Mike Pence points out, toning down the criticisms.
Europe looks to the resumption of the "cold war" between the two American and Russian blocs because it sees the development of the projects started with Moscow in the energy field in danger, which risk penalizing European companies, including ENI.
What are the projects? Eight energy projects underway in Europe could be affected by the latest version of the sanctions prepared by the United States against Russia. The list, under consideration by the European Union, would include:
– Baltic Liquiefied Natural Gas (Shell and Gazprom);
– Blue Stream (Eni and Gazprom);
– Cpc Pipeline (Shell, Eni and Rosneft);
– Nord Stream1 and Nord Stream2;
– expansion of Shakhalin2 (Shell and Gazprom);
– Shah Deniz and South Caucasus Pipeline (BP and Lukoil);
– Zhor (BP, Eni and Rosneft).
Particularly important for Eni is the Zohr project – the huge gas field discovered by the Italian group in Egypt and launched at great speed towards production.
With a statement made last Saturday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has tried to mitigate the concerns raised by the president of the EU Commission Jean Claude Juncker but also by the government in Paris which has defined the American bill as "illegal" as well as by the foreign minister German Sigmar Gabriel who warned: "In no way will Berlin accept an extraterritorial application of US sanctions against European companies". For now, the US is responding that "they will work together with allies and friends to ensure that the message is clearly understood by Russia, Iran and North Korea". But the puzzle remains.
