Less than 24 hours before European leaders meet in Brussels for a scheduled Ukraine summit, there is still no agreement on an oil boycott against Russia. Ambassadors from the 27 member states also failed to find a solution this weekend. They will try again in the morning.
On the table is a compromise proposal for a stripped-down oil boycott. By banning all oil imports by ship, but temporarily allowing them to some countries by pipeline, the member states hope to break the resistance of mainly Hungary, which is 100 percent dependent on Russian oil. Although the oil boycott will not be total, as the European Commission had wanted, imports would fall by two thirds by the end of this year, according to sources in Brussels. A temporary exception would also be made for the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Croatia, just like Hungary, which are above average dependent on Russian oil.
The Netherlands is in favor of a boycott that is as effective as possible, even though half of the oil that is supplied by sea comes via Rotterdam. According to those closely involved in the negotiations, it is important that the ‘pain’ of an oil boycott is shared equally. There should be no competitive advantage or disadvantage. Countries that are temporarily supplied by pipeline are also not allowed to resell their oil.
Been dragging on for weeks
The leaders’ meeting on Monday and Tuesday puts pressure on the talks, which have been dragging on for weeks now. Because there is no agreement, other measures from the sixth sanction package are still pending. This concerns the European Commission’s proposals to cut off another three banks, including the Sberbank, Russia’s largest, from international payment transactions, to remove three Russian state channels from the European airwaves and to remove both the Russian ecclesiastical leader Kirill and a large number of (senior) military personnel, among others responsible for the brutal violence in Butja, to be added to the sanction list. This means that they can no longer travel to Europe and any assets in Europe will be frozen. The soldiers are also immediately candidates for trial for war crimes later.
Ukrainian President Zelensky will also be present by video at the summit in Brussels tomorrow evening. He kicks off a discussion about the current situation in his country. The summit will also discuss acute aid to Ukraine to keep the country afloat – which, according to IMF calculations, costs 5 billion a month – and aid for reconstruction. In addition, the leaders are looking into food safety and concrete options for getting grain from Ukraine to the main buyers in Africa and the Middle East.
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