And I’m back here in Washington now to have some senior level consultations. So while there has been tremendous euphoria about the initial success of the Ukrainians, it’s now coming down to a very, very difficult fight. And it’s a really tough fight, street by street, kilometer by kilometer. So after successfully pushing Russia away from Kyiv, the fight is now very focused in the East, in the area called Donbas. Maybe I just talk a second about the fight. What is your opinion on how our allies are doing in the fight against Putin?Īmbassador Brink: Well, thanks so much, Joe and Mika, for having me on today. I’m curious: how are things going right now, with you getting set up again in Ukraine? And more to the point, we’ve been discussing whether the Europeans are staying focused on this, whether the EU is staying focused on this – Germany and France specifically. Ambassador Brink, so great to have you here with us. Joe Scarborough, MSNBC: US Ambassador to Poland Mark Brzezinski and US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink, thank you so much.
EU Sanctions on Russia and Shipments to and from Kaliningrad.Ambassador Mark Brzezinski’s Remarks at Art in Embassies Opening Reception.OSCE Releases the Second Expert Mission Report on Human Rights Abuses and International Humanitarian Law Violations in Russia’s War Against Ukraine.It may, however, have little choice but to accept such an outcome. It is unlikely to welcome seeing its stake in Uniper being watered down by the German government taking an equity stake. It said last week it has also offered credit lines and guarantees to Uniper. Apart from Uniper's assets in the UK, the biggest repercussions could be felt in Finland, as Uniper's biggest single shareholder - with a near-78% stake - is the Finnish utility giant Fortum. Nonetheless, expectations of a bail-out are building, with speculation centring on a rescue along the lines of the €9bn bail-out that Berlin handed Lufthansa, the German airline, in the summer of 2020 at the height of the pandemic. Interestingly, despite its apparent woes, Uniper has not yet begun drawing down credit lines from the state-controlled lender KfW that are said to be worth up to €2bn. Listen and subscribe to The Ian King Business Podcast here. Podcast Due to your consent preferences, you’re not able to view this. It also owns two of the UK's high pressure gas pipelines and a regasification facility at the Isle of Grain that converts liquefied natural gas (LNG) back to natural gas. It owns seven power stations in the UK, including Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire, one of the country's last remaining coal-fired power stations, as well as one of the UK's few gas storage facilities, Holford in Middlewich, Cheshire. With 34 gigawatts of generating capacity, it is one of the world's biggest power generators, with Britain one of its largest markets. Uniper was hived off from E.ON as a separate business owning its former parent's legacy fossil fuel businesses. That forced it and another major German power group RWE - formerly the owner of UK businesses such as Npower and Thames Water - into restructurings. It was previously part of E.ON, still the owner of a major UK household energy supplier, which was pushed into the red following Mrs Merkel's knee-jerk decision to wind down the country's nuclear power stations following the Fukushima disaster in Japan in 2011. Uniper emerged from the disfunctional energy policy of Mr Scholz's predecessor, Angela Merkel. Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, more or less confirmed as much when he told German television on Sunday evening: "If suddenly the heating bill rises by a couple of hundred euros, then this is an amount that many people will not be able to really cope with. Germany moved 11 days ago to the second phase of the plan, under which suppliers are usually allowed to pass on higher costs to consumers.īerlin has clearly calculated that the cost of providing Uniper with financial support will be less painful than the hit to the economy that would follow if households and businesses were ordered to stump up more for their energy. Its problems have been compounded by the fact that it has not been allowed to pass on these extra costs to customers - despite the fact that, under Germany's national gas emergency plan, it would have expected to.
0 kommentar(er)
