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- Ελληνικά
Criticism of the US government's move to unilaterally reverse its policy on the EastMed gas pipeline is voiced by MPs Gus Bilirakis and Nicole Malliotaki, noting that the US State Department appears to have jumped to a conclusion and skipped several important steps, including consulting with US allies and partners and the US Congress, as required by the EastMed Act.
In a letter sent to US Deputy Secretary of State Naz Durakoglu on Friday, the MPs who had requested an explanation and received a written response on the matter asked instead for a briefing with the physical presence of themselves and the other authors of the EastMed legislative text in the House of Representatives, and other Members of Parliament with an interest in the matter, by State Department adviser on energy security policy issues Amos Hockstein and anyone else responsible for the preparation of the EastMed non-paper and for determining the Administration's policy for the rapid marketization of energy resources from the Eastern Mediterranean.
The two politicians challenge in their letter what they describe as the "logic behind this policy reversal" on the pipeline, stating that while previous expressions of U.S. support for the East Mediterranean gas pipeline did indeed depend on commercial viability, the State Department's policy reversal presupposes a lack of such viability, this is a conclusion it appears to have unilaterally reached in the absence of consultation with US allies and partners in the region prior to the completion of viability studies.
"The EastMed Act requires multiple reports to be submitted to Congress on energy development and infrastructure, and to our knowledge no report has been submitted that thoroughly analyzes the issue of commercial viability. The State Department appears to have jumped to a conclusion here and in the process skipped several key steps, including consultation with U.S. allies and partners and with the United States Congress as required by the EastMed Act," they say.
They also criticize the State Department's intention to lobby its allies and partners to follow the administration's policy reversal. "The State Department has unilaterally taken options off the table. The way the East Mediterranean gas pipeline issue has been handled only helps the malign influences, including Russia, Turkey, and Iran, that we identified in the EastMed Act," the two politicians said, asking for a personal briefing for themselves and the other co-authors of the EastMed Act's passage, concluding their letter by "defining the administration's policy on bringing East Mediterranean energy resources to market quickly."
Source: CNA
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