(Original title: Sanctions against Russia are still escalating, European countries are discussing putting oil embargo on the agenda)
Financial Associated Press (Shanghai, edited by Niu Zhanlin),On Friday, the European Union formally passed its fifth round of sanctions against Russia, deciding to phase out coal purchases from Russia. While sanctions on Russia appear to be over, starting this week, European countries will discuss an even more ambitious goal: weaning themselves off Russian oil.
While EU officials seek oil as the next major step in sanctions against Russia. However, the discussions are unlikely to come to fruition anytime soon. German parties still disagree with the proposal to ban Russian oil imports, despite German Chancellor Scholz’s previous assertion that oil imports from Russia may be halted this year. Meanwhile, EU officials said they were wary of moving too quickly, fearing it could affect the French presidential election. Meanwhile, Hungary’s opposition has grown firmer, diplomats said.
On Friday, EU foreign policy chief Borrell said during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv that he would put oil sanctions on the agenda when EU foreign ministers meet in Luxembourg on Monday. “The sanctions we have agreed to are dealing a huge blow to the Russian economy, but more action is needed next,” Borrell said in Kyiv.
On Monday, Borrell again claimed that an oil embargo on Russia is an option that has been on the table and will be discussed further.
Any oil sanctions, however, face significant political hurdles for a quick decision. With EU member states divided over the issue, Brussels officials said there would be no decision on Monday, and even concrete proposals could take weeks.
But the officials said a number of policies were being studied, including a phased oil embargo, tariffs on Russian oil imports to reduce demand, and mandatory placement of some oil payments into an escrow account where Russia would only make certain payments when to trade in oil.
Mike Williams, an analyst at think tank Bruegel, pointed out that in November last year, the EU imported about 800 million euros of energy from Russia a day, equivalent to 870 million U.S. dollars, including 400 million euros of natural gas, 380 million euros of oil and 20 million euros. Euro for coal. In November last year, the EU bought about 2.7 million barrels a day of Russian crude and 1.1 million barrels of other oil products.
Sanctions on oil are “not easy to agree on and there are a lot of policy options,” said Mujtaba Rahman, European head of political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, but added that some form of action on oil would be difficult to achieve. Momentum is building.