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Before closing the year 2021, European countries debate the possible political and economic sanctions against Russia if it attacks Ukraine, the advance of the Omicron variant, the increase in energy prices on the continent and the economic situation of the community bloc.
It is the last meeting of 2021, a year that closes with several debates on the table. One of the main axes of the 27 meeting is the tension between Russia and Ukraine and the possible sanctions that they would apply in the event of a Russian attack.
The head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, said that a “comprehensive package of sanctions” is being prepared that will be discussed today with the leaders and reiterated that “any aggressive action will have a higher political and economic price” for Russia.
In this regard, Gitanas Nauseda, Lithuanian Prime Minister, assured upon his arrival in Brussels that the EU has “enough tools to dissuade Russia from aggression, starting with economic and sectoral sanctions.” He added that the bloc must do “everything in its power to avoid the worst scenario of a military intervention in Ukraine, which unfortunately we cannot exclude.”
Nauseda also considered that the Baltic region “faces its most dangerous situation” in the last 30 years.This includes the migration crisis on the border between Belarus and its neighbors, especially with Poland.
At his first EU summit as German leader, Olaf Scholz stressed “once again that the inviolability of borders is an important basis for peace in Europe, and that together we will do everything possible to ensure that this inviolability endures.”
Among his proposals is not to open the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which connects Russia directly with Germany without going through Ukraine. This, because it considers that Moscow is using it “as blackmail against the EU” and to “harm the Ukrainian government”.
Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa agreed with him. The politician suggested that “one option for the EU in its confrontation with Moscow could be to prevent the new Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany from operating.” But the leaders confessed that Berlin still does not know whether to risk the supply of natural gas Russian.
However, Jansa considered that there could be “open channels for serious negotiations in the coming days perhaps in the Normandy format”, a diplomatic peace initiative that brings together Ukraine and Russia with France and Germany as mediators, but that “if diplomacy it does not work, sanctions are on the table. “
Meanwhile, Micheal Martin, the prime minister of Ireland, a neutral non-NATO country, said that “any dispute with Moscow should be resolved by peaceful means.”
Community authorities have been evaluating for weeks what sanctions to apply to Russia in the event of an attack on Ukraine, as it has accumulated tens of hundreds of soldiers on the border with the neighboring country.
The Covid-19 pandemic
The leaders will also address the coronavirus pandemic, especially to coordinate containment measures in the face of the advance of the Omicron variant.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotaki said that “what we know about Ómicron is quite worrying” and that the focus should be on “accelerating vaccination and, in particular, the administration of booster doses.”
“If we need to take additional measures on additional tests I think they only have to be administered at Christmas so that we gain additional time to give booster doses to as many people as we can,” he said upon arrival at the meeting.
For his part, Pedro Sánchez, the President of the Government of Spain, considered that the community should “continue with the vaccination and continue with the booster doses that all generations need to continue to be immunized.”
“That will be the position that the Government of Spain maintains. Also of recognition of the work that African countries are doing in sequencing, in transparency, in sharing that information with the rest of the international community in the face of new variants such as Ómicron ”Added Sánchez.
The price of energy
One issue that generates controversy among EU leaders is the nature of “green investments.” States debate whether to include gas and nuclear energy on the list of energies considered virtuous for the environment or not.
In France, nuclear power supplies 70% of electricity. Indeed, he is in favor of integrating nuclear energy into the EU’s “green taxonomy”.
Poland shares French thinking. His prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, said on his arrival in Brussels that “Poland strongly supports the possibility of financing investments in gas and nuclear energy.”
This, because “gas power plants have fewer emissions (than coal) and nuclear power plants have zero emissions and we will need it as fuel for the next 30 years or more,” he said.
An opposite position is that of Germany and Austria. Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer confessed that “we are against the greenwashing of nuclear energy … We have allies, including Luxembourg, but of course also powerful opponents who support nuclear energy.”
The aim of the “Taxonomy for Sustainable Finance” is to better target capital flows towards sustainable activities across the European Union to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
With EFE, AP and Reuters
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