Ambassadors of EU countries will discuss a new bloc of sanctions against Russia on May 6.
“Tomorrow’s agenda includes the discussion of the sixth package of sanctions and the situation in the field of food security,” the EU’s French Presidency said on Twitter. The permanent representatives of the EU also plan to discuss the issue of financial aid to Ukraine.
The DPA agency, citing diplomatic sources, said many EU countries are seeking changes to the draft sixth sanctions package prepared by the European Commission.
Take the oil out of the bag…
The head of the Hungarian government, Viktor Orban, said Budapest could not support the restrictions under discussion in their current form.
“Neither Hungary nor the EU as a whole is ready to accept and implement the measures proposed by the commission. In a letter to the EC President, Orban said that the sanctions should be adopted at a time when all the necessary preconditions are met in all member states.
According to him, the adoption of a new package of measures will require “massive modernization of alternative supply infrastructure and a complete reorganization of oil refining capacities” in his country.
Orbán notes that the sanctions have already “directed necessary national resources to over-investment in fossil fuels” and that funds from Brussels are only available to Budapest on paper.
The head of the Hungarian government believes that the European Commission should not insist on imposing an embargo on Russian oil.
“If the European Commission insists on accepting the proposal, it will have to take full responsibility for the historic failure in the European integration process,” Orban said.
He is confident that the adoption of the sanctions package in its current form will cause further increases in fuel prices.
Slovakia is also participating in the ongoing disagreements with Hungary over the oil embargo, which considers proposals to phase out Russian oil as controversial. The European Commission has adopted an exception for these countries and has promised to allow them to purchase oil under existing contracts by the end of 2023, but Slovakia and Hungary find their proposed exceptions insufficient.
At the same time, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria want the same conditions. Greece, Cyprus and Malta have expressed concern over the oil embargo, as they believe shipping companies will be harmed by the ban on transporting raw materials.
Bulgaria intends to ask the EC next week to delay the embargo on imports of Russian oil.
“Depending on the decisions at the European level, we will also seek our own solutions and ways of working so that there are no oil refining risks and that the production facilities continue to operate normally,” said Energy Minister Aleksandar Nikolov.
..and put an atom
For some EU countries, the sanctions package seems insufficient. Therefore, according to the DPA, Germany asks the EC to tighten measures against Sberbank and limit cooperation with Russia in the peaceful atomic field.
The package of measures proposed by the European Commission includes the disconnection of Sberbank from SWIFT. The agency did not specify how harshly Berlin would like to see sanctions. But according to him, the EC does not plan to ban doing business with Sberbank and freeze its assets.
Germany and the Netherlands are seeking comprehensive justification for banning Russian broadcasters Rossiya 24, TV Center and RTR Planeta, fearing accusations of curtailing press freedom.
“It should be clear that these broadcasters are propaganda channels,” the DPA says.
What will the new sanctions be?
EC President Ursula von der Leyen, in her speech at the European Parliament meeting on May 4, proposed the phasing out of Russian oil as part of a new sanctions package, disconnecting three more Russian banks, including Sberbank, from SWIFT. interbank payment system, as well as stop broadcasting of three state television channels in the EU RF.
The European Commission also proposed a ban on all services related to the transport of Russian oil a month later. The ban is assumed to affect all shipping, brokerage, insurance and financial services offered by European companies.
The ban would apply to Russian oil exports worldwide, which could limit Moscow’s ability to find buyers of alternative raw materials, Reuters reported.
Von der Leyen said the new sanctions package includes the inclusion of those whom the European Union deems responsible for “war crimes in Bucha”.
In addition to the officially announced sanctions measures, it is also reported that the EC intends to prohibit individuals and legal entities from Russia from purchasing property in Europe.
Bloomberg reported that there is a ban on the direct or indirect sale or transfer of “property rights to real estate in the EU or shares in collective investment establishments that provide access to such real estate.”
Agence France-Presse also reported that the EU may impose restrictions on the family of Patriarch Kirill and Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov.