Abroad|The Russian attack
The Extraordinary Summit is extremely important for the EU. There may be more sanctions later.
Brussels
European union leaders quickly gathered on Thursday night for an alarmed extraordinary summit in Brussels. The Prime Minister from Finland will participate in the meeting Sanna Marin (sd).
The meeting started at 9 pm Finnish time.
Due to Russia’s attack on Ukraine, the EU machinery in Brussels has the same disbelieving and shocked mood as elsewhere in Europe. The meeting is expected to have a strong emotional charge.
According to the conclusions of the evening of the meeting, sanctions are coming, covering the financial, energy and transport sectors. In addition, export restrictions will be imposed, visa policy will be addressed and new people will be added to the sanctions list.
EU leaders are deciding on additional sanctions on Russia at a time that many have described as one of the EU’s most important.
Read more: EU to impose unprecedented sanctions on Russia – “The European Union will respond in the strongest possible way”
To the meeting According to Marin, EU leaders must be ready to take any action on sanctions. According to Marini, the exclusion of Russia from the Swift payment system is an action that should be discussed.
“All actions in this situation must have the ability to take action,” Marin said.
According to preliminary data, the EU would not include Swift on its sanctions list due to German reluctance, among other things. The U.S. announced new sanctions that evening, and they too will not interfere with the Swift payment system. Instead, Russia’s largest banks were added to the US sanctions list.
“I believe that new sanctions will be decided quickly politically and sanctions will be introduced very quickly. In addition, we will be debating whether even more serious action is needed. Russia’s action so ruthlessly against Ukraine at the moment is that it requires a very strong response from the EU, ”Marin said.
A few EU countries have decided not to issue visas to Russian citizens. According to Marini, this has not been the subject of joint preliminary discussions.
According to Marin, EU leaders are also discussing how to support Ukraine. Issues related to arms exports and material assistance arise, but according to Marin, these actions are at the discretion of member states.
EU leaders were last assembled a week ago. At that time, there was only one close discussion on the situation in Ukraine and the aggressive progress made by Russia, as the main topic was the EU’s relations with Africa.
It may be that very many heads of state at the time did not think that they would come in a week to a summit on war on European soil.
The EU announced sanctions against Russia earlier this week when Russia decided to recognize the occupied provinces in eastern Ukraine. The first package of sanctions was targeted at recognition-related decision-making and military action in eastern Ukraine and seemed mild.
Member States indicated that this was just the beginning.
At the summit the tougher sanctions on display have been negotiated throughout the day in Brussels. For a long time, EU leaders have been talking about “massive” sanctions, so now the talks are expected to be covered.
Based on the background discussions, EU countries have been able to unite, although sanctions and the expected counter-sanctions against Russia are hitting some member states harder than others. The most vulnerable are those with a lot of exports to Russia, and the neighboring countries, ie the Baltic countries and Finland.
Countries have had the opportunity to present if they do not want to put something under sanctions.
Following the summit’s political policy, a second package of sanctions is expected to enter into force on Friday. EU foreign ministers will meet on Friday to take a formal decision on entry into force.
Britain announced in the evening the extension of sanctions, which Marin considered important.
The country’s new sanctions will affect more than a hundred Russian people and operators. The targets are banks, President Vladimir Putin very close and very rich Russians.
In background discussions The climate in the EU is characterized by the fact that sanctions will not necessarily remain the same, but that preparations for the forthcoming third package will begin. It, like previous sanctions, will be reconciled with US sanctions.
“Sanctions are not off the shelf, they must always be prepared. The Commission has done this, and today we are discussing both the sanctions that have been prepared and, of course, the measures that could still be prepared, ”said Marin.
Discussions have also raised the issue of imposing sanctions on Belarus, which is participating in the attack as Russia attacks Ukraine on its side. Sanctions in Belarus are only coming in the next phase.
At this summit, EU countries will not yet be discussing solidarity, that is, how to support those countries whose economies may be severely affected by sanctions and counter-sanctions. The time for that debate will come later. Prime Minister Sanna Marin said a week ago that Finland expects such solidarity if sanctions are pursued.
EU member states are also preparing for the arrival of refugees from Ukraine.
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