EU leaders struggle to save Iran economic ties from U.S. sanctions

By Gabriela Baczynska

 

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif arrives at the EU council in Brussels, Belgium May 15, 2018. REUTERS/Yves Herman

 

SOFIA (Reuters) - European Union leaders agreed on Wednesday to try to keep the Iran nuclear deal alive and maintain their reviving economic cooperation with Tehran after U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the pact.

 

But the 28 EU leaders did not make any quick decisions during their first meeting on the matter since Trump quit the accord earlier this month, highlighting how U.S. clout in international trade and finance limits the Europeans' scope for action.

 

That was quickly brought home by the French energy giant Total which joined other European companies in signalling on Wednesday they could exit Iran.

 

"As long as Iran respects the provisions of the deal, the EU will also respect it," said Donald Tusk, president of the European Council and chairman of the leaders' gathering in the Bulgarian capital Sofia.

 

The leaders of Britain, France and Germany briefed their peers. The three countries were EU signatories of the 2015 deal that gave Iran sanctions relief in exchange for curbing its nuclear programme but which Trump dismissed as "the worst deal ever."

 

The head of the bloc's executive, Jean-Claude Juncker of the European Commission, has also presented options the leaders have to shield European investments in Iran and the slowly reviving economic cooperation, which many EU states hope to benefit from.

 

An EU source said after the talks the leaders agreed to start "work to protect European companies negatively affected by the U.S. decision."

 

Options include allowing the European Investment Bank to invest there and coordinating euro-denominated credit lines from EU states.

 

Foreign ministers of Germany, France and Britain met their Iranian counterpart in Brussels on Tuesday and tasked their experts to come up with measures for a meeting of their deputies in Vienna next week.

 

'IT WILL TAKE TIME'

But a senior EU official admitted there was no silver-bullet solution and that it would "take some time" for the bloc to come up with what would be a complex mix of national and joint steps.

 

The EU's top energy and climate official, Commissioner Miguel Arias Canete, is heading to Iran on May 18-21 for talks on energy cooperation, a symbolic gesture from the EU that it wants to stay engaged despite the U.S. withdrawal.

 

In his criticism of the accord, which the other signatories Russia and China also want to uphold, Trump has said it did not go far enough in restraining Iran's ability to develop nuclear weapons, while not addressing its missile programme and involvement in various conflicts in the Middle East.

 

EU leaders agreed on Wednesday to keep on looking into these issues, but their previous efforts have not convinced Trump.

 

As the EU scrambles to salvage an accord they see as a key element of international security and a diplomatic success, they also wonder about their ties with Washington.

 

Tusk's unusually biting criticism of Trump on Wednesday highlighted the deep trans-Atlantic split: "Looking at the latest decisions of President Trump, someone could even think: With friends like that, who needs enemies?"

 

(Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska, Editing by William Maclean and Cynthia Osterman)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-05-17

Time for Europe to free itself from " big brother USA " , time they find and go their own way and not only obey ... WW II is long gone , times have changed a lot since .

The present american President is not a friend of the EU , he only looks for profit and more power and his politics bring trouble .

There are a lot of options for the EU ...

19 minutes ago, nobodysfriend said:

Time for Europe to free itself from " big brother USA " , time they find and go their own way and not only obey ... WW II is long gone , times have changed a lot since .

The present american President is not a friend of the EU , he only looks for profit and more power and his politics bring trouble .

There are a lot of options for the EU ...

Totally agree, who voted for the US to run the world ?

17 minutes ago, MrMuddle said:

Totally agree, who voted for the US to run the world ?

Right ! I would just ad an - i - 

 

" Totally agree, who voted for the US to ruin the world ? "

My thoughts are the US wants the same for Iran as Iraq also North Korea taken over by the South.

Prime Minister Theresa May met with Chancellor Merkel of Germany and President Macron of France in Sofia.

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-trilateral-meeting-with-chancellor-merkel-and-president-macron-17-may-2018

Makes sense to argue from a position of strength. The triumvirate have joint GDP over 50% that of the USA. Does Trump plan to alienate the whole world?

12 hours ago, nobodysfriend said:

Time for Europe to free itself from " big brother USA " , time they find and go their own way and not only obey ... WW II is long gone , times have changed a lot since .

The present american President is not a friend of the EU , he only looks for profit and more power and his politics bring trouble .

There are a lot of options for the EU ...

 

"There are a lot of options for the EU ..."

 

Such as...?

 

I'm not disagreeing what passes for Trump's foreign policy and policy making seems chaotic and daft. And certainly, the way he treats allies is bizarre, to put it mildly. In real terms, though (that is, not fiery posts on forums) what effective options does the EU have? And what would be the costs/consequences associated with them?

 

It's all very well to say stuff like let's ditch the US, but that's pretty much emulating Trump's way of doing things. IMO, going this way might severely hurt the EU in the long run. Ultimately, adopting Trump ways runs against the core concepts of the EU - so giving rise to such populist trends might become a norm applied to other situations, possibly to relations between members.

Alright, so maybe that's part of the "options" mentioned....

 

EU to start Iran sanctions blocking law process on Friday

https://www.reuters.com/article/iran-nuclear-eu-response/eu-to-start-iran-sanctions-blocking-law-process-on-friday-idUSL5N1SO4W2

 

I've no idea how long the "process to activate" is, or what does this blocking amounts to in real terms. Wonder how the  decision making process went - probably not the same effects for all EU members. And yeah, same as with the US sanctions on Iran, someone's probably making a killing on certain angles of these power plays.

 

 

23 hours ago, Grouse said:

Does Trump plan to alienate the whole world?

No just control it, this is a good time for kick back IMHO but whose got the courage to see it through. ? 

Yeah...those EU nutcases better get their bottoms up and maintain ties with Iran and fast !!...thanks to Trumps latest spoilt brat attitude with Iran, oil prices are starting to skyrocket....I usually was not picking on Trump, but on this one, he is causing global oil crisis for all !!..Just to please his oil trading buddies ... bad fellow !!

Edited May 18, 20188 yr by observer90210