Reuters reports EU Commission Seeks Emergency Powers on Supply Crisis With Threats of Fines.
The European Commission is seeking emergency powers to force companies to make key products and stockpile goods in a crisis or else face fines, according to an EU document seen by Reuters on Friday.
The proposed Single Market Emergency Instrument, set to be presented on Sept. 13, comes in response to supply bottlenecks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia calls its actions in Ukraine “a special military operation.”
It also aims to deter foreign countries with similar powers from taking such action without first informing the 27-country bloc.
The move is contested by some EU countries worried about a power grab by the EU executive, while critics say it smacks of China-style state capitalism.
The Commission will need to thrash out details with EU countries and EU lawmakers before the proposal can become law in a process that will take months.
If passed, the Commission may ask EU states to reorganize supply chains and increase supplies of crisis-relevant goods as quickly as possible, the document said.
Businesses that provide incorrect or misleading information can face fines up to 300,000 euros ($300,540) while those that fail to comply with an order to prioritize key products could be hit with daily periodic penalty payments of 1.5% of the average daily turnover.
What a Hoot!
Emergency powers are for the EU only. Other countries would allegedly have to inform the EU first.
Yeah right.
The EC said it would not comment on leaked document, but what we are talking about is a war-time powers act without a war.
Is this an item that required unanimous EU consent?
If so, the proposal will never get off the ground. But if the treaty does allow for “emergency” rules, who knows what these nannycrats might do.
Daniel Lacalle had the correct reaction: “Be sacred, very scared.“
At a minimum, the Euro will crash if this passes.
Question of the Day
https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1566885871948906498
Russia just announced a few hours ago gas will be shut off until sanctions are lifted (FT), they are capping zero gas.
Pain Mostly Self-Inflicted
Shortages are mostly self-inflicted. The US and EU launched economic warfare with Russia and faces an energy crisis as a result.
And every time the EU steps up the pressure, Russia responds in kind.
Please note Putin Retaliates With Natural Gas Shutdown After G7 Announces Oil Price Caps. But it’s not just natural gas.
Russia and Ukraine Exports
- Russia and Ukraine are key exporters of C4F6 and neon gas. Ukraine produces about 25% of the neon used in global semiconductor production.
- Russia produces about 12 percent of platinum and 40 percent of palladium used in automotive catalytic converters.
- Russia produces 3.9 metric tons of aluminum (6% of world supply). Russia and Ukraine together account for about 10% of global steel exports, according to SteelMint.
- Russia is the third-largest producer of petroleum after the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, exporting almost 5 million barrels a day of crude oil in 2020, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
- Russia produces about 12 percent of the world’s oil and 17 percent of its natural gas, according to estimates from J.P. Morgan.
- Russia and Ukraine account for about one third of global wheat exports.
- Russia supplies about half of Airbus titanium needs, while a U.S. industry source said Russia provided a third of Boeing’s requirements.
- Caspar Rawles, chief data officer at specialist consultancy Benchmark Mineral Intelligence (BMI), said that while Russia accounts for 5% of global nickel production, it supplies about 20% of the world’s high-grade nickel.
For discussion, please see US Sanction Policy Drives China Into Russia’s Loving Arms
The global response to Russia has one huge beneficiary, China.
If you think the EU will be out of the woods if they survive this winter and natural gas, then think again. Where will the EU get titanium and nickel?
The fact that the EU is proposing this action is admission the worries are not just about natural gas.
This post originated at MishTalk.Com.
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1.5 Trillion Margins Calls Risk Energy Trade (10:25 a.m.)
European energy trading risks grinding to a halt unless governments extend liquidity to cover margin calls of at least $1.5 trillion, according to Norway’s Equinor ASA. The biggest energy crisis in decades is sucking up capital to guarantee trades amid wild price swings.
“Liquidity support is going to be needed although the physical market is working,” Helge Haugane, Equinor’s senior vice president for gas and power, said. The company’s estimate for $1.5 trillion in capital to prop up derivatives trading is “conservative,” he said.
Easier said than done. Here is a summation of the subject from April of this year.
Despite whether any particular leader of any particular nation is right or wrong; it can be said that Putin loves his country more than the leaders of Europe and the leader of the United States love their countries.
here the atmosphere is so clear one can stand outside at night, reach
up, and almost touch the stars. The Milky Way carves an arc across
the heavens like a white sash. The sun shines at least three hundred
days a year. It gets hot in the summer and well below zero in the
winter. Almost without fail in the summer, a cool breeze arrives in
the early afternoon, and in winter the humidity is so low that even
below-zero temperatures are easily tolerated. …
“This
can be a lonesome country, eerily silent at times, especially at
night. When coyotes out there in the sagebrush start howling at the
moon, checking in and discussing the night’s activities with their
pals, they are only making plans to locate something to eat. You
might hear an owl up in one of the trees, his big eyes peeled for a
mouse for breakfast, telling everyone about it with his mournful
call. In the quiet of the night, howling coyotes and that sudden
mournful call of the owl can send a chill up the back of the
uninitiated youngster.
“Sometimes
the silence can be there in the daylight, too. And that is good. If
it is very quiet, you will hear the song of the meadowlark sitting on
a fencepost close by, or the scream of an eagle or a hawk circling
overhead, like those coyotes and the owl, hunting for some lunch.
When you see those things and hear those sounds, no matter how crazy
and mixed up this old world is today, you know goodness still exists
on this land – pure, God-given, natural goodness.
“If
it’s crowds of people, bright lights, car horns, angry drivers and
the hustle bustle of the city that you desire, this is definitely not
the life for you. I suspect most folks who drive Highway 95 in this
part of Oregon would consider it the most boring, desolate stretch of
road in America. We leave them to their thoughts, and wish them
Godspeed. In our haste today, it is easy to miss the beauty and
serenity of this wonderful land. For those people born and raised
here, for those who have lived their lives here, and for others who
have sought the solitude, this is their Eden.”
High Desert Promise, John Sackett Skinner
here the atmosphere is so clear one can stand outside at night, reach
up, and almost touch the stars. The Milky Way carves an arc across
the heavens like a white sash. The sun shines at least three hundred
days a year. It gets hot in the summer and well below zero in the
winter. Almost without fail in the summer, a cool breeze arrives in
the early afternoon, and in winter the humidity is so low that even
below-zero temperatures are easily tolerated. …
“This
can be a lonesome country, eerily silent at times, especially at
night. When coyotes out there in the sagebrush start howling at the
moon, checking in and discussing the night’s activities with their
pals, they are only making plans to locate something to eat. You
might hear an owl up in one of the trees, his big eyes peeled for a
mouse for breakfast, telling everyone about it with his mournful
call. In the quiet of the night, howling coyotes and that sudden
mournful call of the owl can send a chill up the back of the
uninitiated youngster.
“Sometimes
the silence can be there in the daylight, too. And that is good. If
it is very quiet, you will hear the song of the meadowlark sitting on
a fencepost close by, or the scream of an eagle or a hawk circling
overhead, like those coyotes and the owl, hunting for some lunch.
When you see those things and hear those sounds, no matter how crazy
and mixed up this old world is today, you know goodness still exists
on this land – pure, God-given, natural goodness.
If
it’s crowds of people, bright lights, car horns, angry drivers and
the hustle bustle of the city that you desire, this is definitely not
the life for you. I suspect most folks who drive Highway 95 in this
part of Oregon would consider it the most boring, desolate stretch of
road in America. We leave them to their thoughts, and wish them
Godspeed. In our haste today, it is easy to miss the beauty and
serenity of this wonderful land. For those people born and raised
here, for those who have lived their lives here, and for others who
have sought the solitude, this is their Eden.”
–
High Desert Promise, John Sackett Skinner
—–
I hope it never happens, but if I have to I will die for my country. Call me names. This is America, and no one will take it from me.