Oil and euros

This week, we look at what the business press has to say about the American decision to block a major Canada-US pipeline project as well as at commentary about the EU rescue fund.

Green mistake

The Wall Street Journal writes that the Obama administration's decision to block a $7 billion oil pipeline project will cost the US tens of thousands of jobs. The Keystone XL project would have seen the building of a pipeline from the Alberta tar sands in Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. The US State Department has given the TransCanada pipeline company permission to reapply, using an alternative route.

… Environmentalists seem to think they can prevent the development of Canada’s oil-rich tar sands … America’s largest trading partner will simply build a pipeline to the Pacific coast from Alberta and sell its petroleum products to Asia instead, China in particular. … If Mitt Romney and the other GOP candidates have any political wit, they’ll … make Mr. Obama explain why job creation is less important than the people who make a living working for the green anti-industrial complex.

Germany’s power

Italian Premier Mario Monti met Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin last week to ask Germany to support Italy’s efforts to escape its enormous debt. Otherwise, Monti warned, the Italian people could lose faith in the EU and “flee into the arms of populists”. The Financial Times urges Merkel to make better use of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) to provide emergency funding, not just to Italy.

… Germany must recognise that austerity and fiscal restraint in deficit-ridden southern Europe need to be balanced by growth-boosting measures in the surplus countries of the north. Such policies are achievable. Mr Monti must not be a voice in the wilderness.