Fresh Take on EU's Ongoing Sanctions Standoff with Russia
Escalating Conflict in Ukraine: EU Decides to Prolong Restrictive Measures against Russia
Here's the latest scoop on the EU's tug-of-war with Mother Russia over sanctions. Things ain't going as smoothly as Emmanuel Macron might've hoped in May, but the Old Continent's hangin' in there.
In a gathering of the 27 EU member states' bigwigs in Brussels, they agreed throatily to extend the sanctions they've slapped on Russia for another half-year. These 17 nasty pieces of work, crude since the Ukraine invasion in 2022, gotta be renewed by consensus every six months. That's a tricky task, since Hungary—the EU's coziest buddy to Russia—often threatens to nix 'em. In January, their prime minister, Viktor Orban, saved the day by giving the OK, but just barely.
Shootin' for a New Round
While they were together, the EU honchos also talked turkey about a 18th round of sanctions proposed by the European Commission a couple of weeks prior. The grand plan is to knobble Russia's oil revenues by slashing the price of its oil from $60 to $45 a barrel. Meanwhile, old $60 was a folk hero, cuttin' Russian oil revenues by 30% last year. But, alas, with the world oil price way above $60 and Russia cookin' up legions of "ghost" tankers for a bypass, the EU's added 70 more of 'em to its naughty list.
Slovakia's Sneaky Veto
Besides these sanctions, the EU crew is also itchin' to extend 'em to Russian refined petroleum products imported via countries like Turkey. Plus, 22 more Russian banks could join the financial institutions that can't wiggle into the Swift system, and maybe a few more companies, including some Chinese ones, could wind up on that naughty list too, since they're helping Russia dodge sanctions.
But this shiny new sanctions package is on hold thanks to a sneaky veto by Slovakia. Their leader, Robert Fico, is usin' that veto card to hustle the European Commission into guaranteein' his gas supply, since the EU's lookin' to kick RuSSIA gas to the curb by 2027.
Tune in for more updates on this dramatic dance between the EU and Russia!
Insights
- The 18th EU sanctions package against Russia remains unapproved due to political disagreements and vetoes by countries like Slovakia and Hungary[1].
- Slovakia and Hungary rely heavily on cheap Russian natural gas and crude oil imports and see the sanctions coupled with the energy import ban as a significant threat to their energy security and economic stability[3].
- The political divide within the EU on how to balance strong punitive measures against Russia with energy security concerns for certain member states remains a major hurdle in the approval of the 18th sanctions package[3][4].
- The EU's proposed 18th round of sanctions against Russia faces delays due to policies and legislation that are hampered by disagreements and vetoes, such as the one from Slovakia.
- The ongoing war-and-conflicts between Russia and Ukraine, coupled with politics and general-news related to energy security and economic stability, continue to affect policy-and-legislation discussions among EU member states.
