Rome, 29 May 2022 – No European agreement on Russian oil embargo e sixth package of sanctions against Moscow. The square on the scheme prepared by the European Commission which provided for the exemption for crude oil from the renamed ‘was not found’Friendship Pipeline ‘, which connects Russia to Hungary, Germany and Poland. In between there is always the veto of Hungary which did not accept the latest concession from the European Union.
Waiting for extraordinary meeting on Monday 30 May, the ambassadors of the 27 European countries tried to reach an understanding-compromise that would facilitate the discussion of the leaders that will open the new week of the EU. On the sixth package of sanctions in Moscow, the agreement seemed now reached, with the exemption for the friendship pipeline that was meeting the requests of Viktor Orban. In fact, the oil embargo would only apply to crude oil coming by sea, on which the zeroing of imports would only trigger at the end of the year. But a reflection supplement. Even the so-called ‘anti-Russian hawks’ (the Baltic countries above all) have long criticized a soft embargo which, politically, risks bending Brussels to Orban’s demands.
On the sixth package of sanctions, compared to the previous versions, however, there is some news, and it goes towards Prime Minister Mario Draghi. In fact, the text opens up to the possibility of introducing a temporary price cap for energy. “The European Council invites the Commission to explore with international partners ways to curb the rise in energy prices, including the feasibility of introducing temporary price caps,” the draft reads. Not only. The European summit will invite “the Commission to rapidly continue its work on optimizing the functioning of the European electricity market in order to resist future price volatility”. And it is in this paragraph that countries such as Italy, Spain or Greece could see a timid opening to decoupling the prices of electricity from those of gas.
RePowerEu will be one of the key themes of the summit. And we will also talk about the financing provided for in the plan and, above all, about the allocation criteria for the funds which – this is the Commission’s proposal – will be the same as those of the Recovery. But several countries disagree on this point. And, the risk of a collision, even on the energy dossier, is just around the corner. The leaders, on the other hand, will talk about Ukraine and support for Kiev during the working dinner on Monday, which will also be attended by Volodymyr Zelensky, on video link.