Brussels is preparing a proposal for new sanctions that affect Russian oil

There is a dotted line: from coal to oil; And from oil to gas. The European Commission and the 27 agreed on an embargo on Russian coal at the end of last week. The embargo, which will not end until August 10, when the four-month cadence expires to expire all agreements with Russia.

The first energy embargo on coal, the fuel that the EU buys the least, came after the Bucha massacre, which was visited this Friday by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. Joseph Borrell. Borrell himself said that this Monday, in Luxembourg, EU foreign ministers were discussing an oil embargo that was not very clear to his team last Friday.

But the truth is that as soon as they arrived at the meeting, all the ministers were asked about it, and Borrell himself admitted: “Sanctions are always on the table. Talking about Ukraine means discussing the effectiveness of our sanctions, the sanctions that have already been decided and what steps we need to take.

Germany is one of the countries that is most dependent on Russian fossil fuels and, consequently, along with Hungary, is one of the most reluctant to extract oil and gas from Russia. Thus, the German Foreign Minister said this Monday morning: “We discussed this within the EU last week and decided to export all imports of fossil fuels from Russia, like the EU. As the German Federal Government, we have already stated that there will be a complete phasing out of fossil fuels, starting with coal, then with oil and gas. And in order for it to be used jointly in the EU, we need a jointly agreed plan to be able to fully exclude fossil fuels as the EU does. ”

“We need to take a maximalist approach to sanctions in order to have more restraint in the face of this war and this atrocity,” Irish Foreign and Defense Minister Simon Cowen said at a meeting in Luxembourg. And that should include, in our view, oil. We know that this is very difficult for some member states and we need to maintain a common position across the EU. But now we have coal as part of the sanctions package and we know that the Commission is working on a new package which we hope to see soon, which also includes oil.

Cowan added: “The EU is spending hundreds of millions of euros on oil imports from Russia. This helps finance the war. And, in our view, we must stop funding this war, even though it poses enormous challenges and problems that the EU must tackle together. We have to wait and see what the commission will say, they are working to ensure that oil is part of the next sanctions package. The sooner this happens, the better. ”

“We are going to analyze this situation, no doubt,” said Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares when asked about the Russian oil embargo. “And there are two things to consider. On the one hand, to avoid financing Vladimir Putin’s war with European money and funds. And at the same time, we need to think about European citizens and not destabilize certain countries whose energy structure has traditionally been closely linked to Russia. “I am confident that these two parameters will be and Spain will be in solidarity with the decisions taken within the EU.”

For his part, Danish Foreign Minister Jepe Kofod explained that the EU was going to “continue to put pressure on Russia to stop the war.” Kofod acknowledged: “We are already considering the sixth package of sanctions and the Danish side is ready to go as far as we can to seek a consensus on sanctions, including energy. I am very pleased with the fifth package we have now: seaports, transport, aircraft fuel … This is a very important meeting where we see how to increase spending for Russia, what they are doing and also see how we can further support it. Ukraine.

In this regard, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis was rude: “The only thing that makes me happy is that the European Commission has made it very clear that it is starting work on options for an oil impact on the sixth package of sanctions. “It means that the work of reaching a consensus between the 27 has already begun and I hope that this time it will happen.”

“Russia has been affected by the sanctions,” said Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra. For us all options remain on the table. We are ready to look at other aspects, including energy, before we can be sure that we will maintain unity in the EU.

According to Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky, “the question is what needs to be done in the EU to impose an embargo on oil and gas and other major commodities. The Czech Republic supports the toughest possible sanctions we can apply to Russia.

“We have now approved a package of sanctions in which we take a step forward on coal,” said Swedish Foreign Minister Anne Linde. I think it can withstand oil. We are moving and more and more people are realizing how important this is. I do not think we will reach a full agreement, but those who strive to do so will do as much as possible. ”