Five European countries have agreed, during an emergency meeting held on Thursday, to respond “with one voice” to the increasing pressures of the American government for the release onto the market of a significant quantity of diesel from the European strategic reserves, according to people familiar with the discussions, quoted by Politico.
France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Ireland, and the European Commission participated in discussions to determine how to respond to Trump’s pressures to reduce oil stocks or face an American ban on diesel exports.
All these countries have been privately pressed by the United States to release fuel from their own reserves, according to two of the sources.
The participating countries and the European Commission have agreed on three principles: to respond to pressures through a “coordinated position”, to ensure that “any decision on the release of stocks is taken at the level of the IEA [International Energy Agency]” and to try “to reduce tensions in discussions with the United States”.
AIE, headquartered in Paris, coordinates the energy policies of developed countries and coordinated at the beginning of this year the release of some oil reserves after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
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