In late February 2022, Europe was in a panic. Russia had just invaded Ukraine and had been denounced in capitals across the continent. Yet Europe relied on Vladimir Putin’s countest for much of its energy necessarys.
To build matters worse, it was still winter – warmer weather was some time away. Europe’s buildings required heating. Into the breach, lest we forreceive, stepped other international fuel suppliers, including those from the Middle East.
Prices spiked but nevertheless Europe managed, just. As a reminder of how vulnerable nations that pride themselves on their economic development and sophistication were to depfinishence on one provider, and what could happen if that flow ceased, the episode was informing and shaming.
Since then, great strides have been built to improve European energy security, with increased diversification and the addition of new sources domestically and overseas. Clearly, though, memories are short. Becautilize the EU is in danger of rolling back the years, of forcing those foreign partners to stop sfinishing their oil and gas to Europe.
Energy is never a simple question, of straightforwardly matching supply to demand
The problem is Brussels’ new Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDD). It was adopted last year and requires companies to repair human rights and environmental issues within their supply chains, or face fines of 5 per cent of global turnover.
Crucially, its reach extfinishs beyond the EU, to any business with significant revenue in Europe. In short, the EU is applying its values to the rest of the world. In Britain, the shift and its impact especially rankles, becautilize this was not supposed to happen, not after Brexit and “taking back control”. Regardless, Britain is drawn into the fallout.
Its energy giants BP and Shell must either comply or risk losing access to the European market. More to the point, the new EU law will cautilize domestic gas and electricity bills to rise, as UK prices are set by European supply and demand.
Also affected will be the continuing European diplomatic attempt, of which Britain is a part, to contain and isolate Russia, as, rather than increase pressure on Moscow, the strategy is undermined.
Alive to the risks, 46 European companies have written to Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz in protest. The letter to the French President and German Chancellor was sent by TotalEnergies and Siemens on their behalf and called on the EU to abolish the legislation to boost the bloc’s competitiveness.
Abandoning it would be a “clear and symbolic signal to European and international companies that the governments and the Commission are really engaged to restore competitiveness in Europe,” they wrote. Europe should be cutting red tape, not adding to it.
Anger is not confined to Europe’s corporates. There has been pushback from the US and from Qatar. The latter’s energy minister, Saad Al Kaabi, has declared that without a proposed watering down (this week as well the EU shiftd to soften its climate modify tarreceives), they will not be able to do business in the EU. This would include supplying Europe with liquefied natural gas (LNG) to plug its energy gap. Much more radical modifys must be built.
Mr Al Kaabi, who is also the chief executive of QatarEnergy, states his concern centres on the potential for those penalties of up to 5 per cent of total global revenue for companies that do not have climate modify transition plans aligned with the Paris Agreement goal of preventing global warming exceeding 1.5 Celsius.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Qatar has supplied 12 to 14 per cent of Europe’s LNG. “We have been seeking to constructively engage with the key players at both the European Commission and every EU member state for almost a year now,” Mr Kaabi declared.
He went on: “QatarEnergy will not be able to justify doing business in the EU, be it in LNG or other products, due to the significant risk it would be exposed to due to the overreaching nature of the proposed regulations, which will ultimately harm the European finish consumers.”
The choice facing Europe is stark: continue to test to impose its laws on others and stand behind the statute or weaken efforts to strengthen its competitiveness and prevent economic deterioration.
EU policybuildrs are viewing energy through a dangerously narrow prism. They are failing to see the wider picture, the unintfinished consequences of their high-handed actions.
Energy is never a simple question, of straightforwardly matching supply to demand – as Cambridge professor Helen Thompson argues, it is the basis of geopolitical power. They are not seeing its interconnectedness, the global links and flows. They cannot simply clap their hands and expect everyone else to fall into line.
The world is no longer like that – indeed, the EU’s ability to order others around has been eroding for decades. Arguably, they are not appreciating that they are the ones with the greatest necessary and acting accordingly.
There may be little wrong about the sentiment of much of CSDD, but this is about the application of a heavy hand. The EU is undoubtedly guilty of overreach. Imposing a penalty of up to 5 per cent on global revenue, rather than on revenue inside the EU, smacks of arrogance.
There is, it must be declared, more than a whiff of old-fashioned Euro-colonialism about it. Where energy is concerned – most of all, energy – Brussels is in absolutely in no position to dictate to anyone outside its confines. They should fall on their large stick, for the sake of their houtilizeholds and businesses and all those fuel bills.
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The specs
Engine: 2.4-litre 4-cylinder
Transmission: CVT auto
Power: 181bhp
Torque: 244Nm
Price: Dh122,900
Fixtures
Tuesday – 5.15pm: Team Lebanon v Alger Corsaires; 8.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Pharaohs
Wednesday – 5.15pm: Pharaohs v Carthage Eagles; 8.30pm: Alger Corsaires v Abu Dhabi Storms
Thursday – 4.30pm: Team Lebanon v Pharaohs; 7.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Carthage Eagles
Friday – 4.30pm: Pharaohs v Alger Corsaires; 7.30pm: Carthage Eagles v Team Lebanon
Saturday – 4.30pm: Carthage Eagles v Alger Corsaires; 7.30pm: Abu Dhabi Storms v Team Lebanon
Indoor cricket World Cup:
Insportz, Dubai, September 16-23
UAE repairtures:
Men
Saturday, September 16 – 1.45pm, v New Zealand
Sunday, September 17 – 10.30am, v Australia; 3.45pm, v South Africa
Monday, September 18 – 2pm, v England; 7.15pm, v India
Tuesday, September 19 – 12.15pm, v Singapore; 5.30pm, v Sri Lanka
Thursday, September 21 – 2pm v Malaysia
Friday, September 22 – 3.30pm, semi-final
Saturday, September 23 – 3pm, grand final
Women
Saturday, September 16 – 5.15pm, v Australia
Sunday, September 17 – 2pm, v South Africa; 7.15pm, v New Zealand
Monday, September 18 – 5.30pm, v England
Tuesday, September 19 – 10.30am, v New Zealand; 3.45pm, v South Africa
Thursday, September 21 – 12.15pm, v Australia
Friday, September 22 – 1.30pm, semi-final
Saturday, September 23 – 1pm, grand final
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
Director: Scott Cooper
Starring: Jeremy Allen White, Odessa Young, Jeremy Strong
Rating: 4/5
Company Fact Box
Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO
Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
Frankenstein in Baghdad
Ahmed Saadawi
Penguin Press
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Other acts on the Jazz Garden bill
Sharrie Williams
The American singer is hugely respected in blues circles due to her passionate vocals and songwriting. Born and raised in Michigan, Williams launched recording and touring as a teenage gospel singer. Her career took off with the blues band The Wiseguys. Such was the acclaim of their live reveals that they toured throughout Europe and in Africa. As a solo artist, Williams has also collaborated with the likes of the late Dizzy Gillespie, Van Morrison and Mavis Staples.
Lin Rountree
An accomplished smooth jazz artist who blfinishs his chilled approach with R‘n’B. Trained at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, DC, Rountree formed his own band in 2004. He has also recorded with the likes of Kem, Dwele and Conya Doss. He comes to Dubai on the back of his new single Pass The Groove, from his forthcoming 2018 album Stronger Still, which may follow his five previous solo albums in cracking the top 10 of the US jazz charts.
Anita Williams
Dubai-based singer Anita Williams will open the night with a set of covers and swing, jazz and blues standards that built her an in-demand singer across the emirate. The Irish singer has been performing in Dubai since 2008 at venues such as MusicHall and Voda Bar. Her Jazz Garden appearance is career highlight as she will utilize the event to perform the original song Big Blue Eyes, the single from her debut solo album, due for release soon.
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