David Barry

“The French Minister of the Economy is absolutely right. European companies pay up to seven times
more for energy than their direct American competitors. This discrepancy is unsustainable in the medium
and long term and risks bankrupting many Italian companies,” said Italian MEP Tiziana Beghin.
According to the Italian politician it is important that the United States increased the export of liquid gas
to Europe, thus making up for the lack of Russian gas, “but the price must be fair and respectful of the
historical friendship that binds our peoples. In the last month of September, on the other hand, the average
price of stars and stripes gas sold in Europe was $57.8, that sold in the US just $8. This race to the top,
which inflates the profits of American energy companies, is not only hurting the European Union but also
all the poorer and developing countries to whom gas is no longer sold. This is called speculation and the
main responsibility lies in Brussels, which is too slow and uncertain to take anti-speculation measures.
The cap on gas prices is a matter of life and death for many Italian and European companies,” Beghin
argued.
“There is then nothing to celebrate. Beyond the rhetoric that accompanies certain institutional moments,
on the expensive energy and gas package from the European Council comes yet another postponement.
On Tuesday 18th October, at a press conference in Strasbourg, Ursula Von der Leyen had presented the
Commission’s proposals to be submitted to the European Council. Three days later, the European Council
asked the European Commission to submit new proposals. Jokingly, we could say that it looks like a
“game of the goose”, but it is a pity that it is European households and businesses that pay seven times
more for energy than their American competitors,”Beghin concluded.