The leaders of the European Union discussed this Tuesday the way to mitigate the food crisis due to the war in Ukrainethe strengthening of European defense and how to continue the disconnection of Russian energy, after giving the green light this Monday to a sixth round of sanctions on Russia, including most of the oil.
In their second day of extraordinary summit in Brussels, the 27 will continue their energy talks, which they left unfinished on Monday, on ways to eliminate the EU’s dependence on Russian fossil fuels as soon as possible.
(Also read: EU agrees to embargo on “more than two thirds” of its purchases of Russian oil)
The ban on the veto on Russian energy was already opened with coal in the fifth package of sanctions and now continues with the end of imports of 90% of Russian oil before the end of the year in a political agreement reached at this summit, which introduces a temporary exception for crude oil arriving in Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia by pipeline.
“We cannot prevent Russia from selling the oil to someone else. We are not that powerful. But we are the most important customer for Russia. They will have to find others and obviously they will have to reduce the price. The goal is for the Russians to have fewer financial resources to fuel the war machine.“, explained the high representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, about the importance of this measure upon his arrival at the summit.
(Also: Vice President of Spain talks about the effects of war in Ukraine)
Energy
The European Commission intends to get to work “immediately” on a new proposal on that Russian oil that is not covered by the sanctions agreed last night, and that represents some 12.8 million tons, a senior European official told a group media.
That is the flow of Russian crude that reaches Europe through the southern branch of the Druzhba pipeline, the longest in the world, while its northern tube transports another 25 million tons a year to Germany and Poland, who, however, they have already expressed their intention to stop using it by 2023.
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“The oil embargo, we have to be realistic, will give us headaches, but those headaches are not comparable to those that Ukrainian civil society has,” said Austrian Foreign Minister Karl Nehammer, who ruled out that the gas will be part of a seventh round of sanctions.
On the other hand, European leaders are expected to call on the European Commission to “explore” different ways to placate the increase in energy prices, including the possibility of “introducing temporary maximum prices”, according to the latest draft conclusions.
Defending
Russia’s war in Ukraine, which will be a hundred days old this Friday, has also highlighted the need for a “stronger and more capable EU in the field of security and defense”, according to the draft conclusions.
“We have to increase our military spending in a coordinated way and it will not be easy, because the Army, defensive capabilities, is the core of national sovereignty,” stressed the head of European diplomacy on Tuesday.
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The rule of law is not enough. We also need to be a military power
In that context, The 27 believe that the EU must make “more and better investments” in defense, “focusing on the identified strategic deficiencies” in a report prepared by the Commission and the head of European diplomacy, together with the European Defense Agency.
According to Borrell, “what we have learned from the war in Ukraine is that trade is not enough, the rule of law is not enough, it is not enough to be a good civil power. We also need to be a military power.”
food crisis
The 27 will finally discuss food security, including international coordination and how to ensure a comprehensive global approach to circumvent or mitigate the effect of the Russian blockade of Black Sea ports, which prevents Ukraine from exporting its cereals to the rest of the world.
Thus, if yesterday it was the Ukrainian president, VolodÃmir Zelenski, who intervened in the summit by videoconference, this Tuesday it will be the rotating president of the African Union, Macky Sall.
EFE
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