“You have a beautiful government here. It would be a sin if something happened to it.” Basically, that’s what the US ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle, reportedly told a Greek government minister, according to a shocking new report by Wall Street Journal on her recent activities.
The WSJ article recounts a discussion at a dinner attended by Greek and American officials; at one point, the conversation turned to the recent collapse of the Romanian government. A person who attended the dinner, as well as others briefed on the exchange, told him WSJ– that Guilfoyle had commented: “We can do that to any country we want. We can do it here.”
That comment reportedly led to a tense debate with Greek Energy Minister Stavros Papastavrou, who responded that the US could not replace Greece’s government, which had been elected by voters.
The report prompted reactions in Bucharest, where the leaders of the two parties that ultimately voted to oust the Bolojan government – Sorin Grindeanu of the Social Democrats (PSD) and George Simion of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) – rejected any claims of US involvement.
Guilfoyle has been a strong supporter of the Vertical Gas Corridor project in the region, including its extension to Romania. G4Media.ro has reported that Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan did not respond to the demands of the American-Greek consortium, involved in the Vertical Gas Corridor, to buy American gas at prices above market levels.
The ambassador’s lawyer, for his part, rejected the accusations and the way the conversation was conveyed in the WSJ article.
The Vertical Gas Corridor is a strategic energy initiative aimed at supplying Europe with American gas and connecting natural gas transportation systems in a North-South axis, from the terminals of Greece to Central Europe and Ukraine.
Albania also became a part of this project, which is expected to buy 6 billion dollars of gas from a Greek-American consortium starting in 2030.
