BRUSSELS – The development of a sixth package of European sanctions against Russia in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine continues to prove incredibly difficult. The fourth meeting in a few days of the diplomatic representatives of the Twenty-seven ended without success on Sunday 8 May. Negotiations will continue in the coming days with the aim of diluting the impact of the oil embargo on some Eastern European countries, particularly dependent on Russian crude oil.
Contacts continue
“We still have to finalize, in a spirit of solidarity, the necessary supply guarantees for member countries in a very particular situation, since they depend on an oil pipeline from Russia”, explained the French presidency of the European Union and the European Commission. “Contacts at all levels will continue at the beginning of the week with the aim of reaching an agreement as quickly as possible on a sixth package of sanctions.”
The package presented earlier this week by the European Commission includes numerous measures, almost all of which are acceptable to the Member States, with the exception of the embargo on Russian oil. Some countries dependent on crude oil from Russia – such as Hungary, Slovakia or the Czech Republic – have called for a moratorium and possible compensations. According to information circulated here in Brussels, the Twenty-seven are therefore also discussing “infrastructure conversion”.
Brussels diplomats insist on defining the difficulties in the negotiations as technical: “The Council is united on the need to adopt the sixth package of sanctions,” explains a diplomat. “There are no divisions between Member States, only technical issues related to security of supply and industrial reconversion.”
Moratorium hypothesis for the most dependent countries until 2024
On the table is the hypothesis of a moratorium on the embargo until 2024 for the countries most dependent on Russian oil.It is true that so far Hungary has shown itself particularly united with the rest of the European countries in sanctioning Russia, despite the political relationship between Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Russian President Vladimir Putin. At the same time, how can we forget that Hungary has proved difficult in recent months in the search for compromises at Twenty-seven?