Brussels, 28/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - Underlining that the legal acts for the new restrictive measures relating to the Ukrainian crisis would be presented for the approval of the member states' ambassadors on Tuesday 29 July, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy called for an agreement to be reached that same day. In a letter to heads of state and government published in the Financial Times on Friday 25 July, he said: “I would like to ask you that you instruct your Ambassador in order to complete an agreement by this date”.
EU ambassadors are expected to discuss measures, in line with with the request by foreign ministers on 22 July. These measures will focus, among other things, on access to capital markets, defence, dual-use goods and sensitive technologies.
In the evening of 25 July, the president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, announced that the legislative proposals for additional measures were ready. In a press release he said that “the final decision now lies with the EU's Member States, but I believe that this is an effective, well-targeted and balanced package providing the flexibility to adjust our reaction to changes on the ground. I hope that Member States will agree on this package of restrictive measures next week” (Ed: this week).
In his letter, Van Rompuy said that the discussion between the ambassadors on 24-25 July helped to establish a consensus on certain key principles. The overall balance will be maintained across sectors and across member states; the principle of non-retroactivity will apply across all targeted sectors, including in the field of arms trade and restrictions on access to capital markets; the measures in the field of sensitive technologies will only affect the oil sector in view of the need to preserve EU energy security; the prohibition of dual-use technology exports will be limited at this stage to military end-users.
Russia gets ready for sanctions
On Monday, 28 July, Russian Ppresident Vladimir Putin held a meeting on replacing imports to the defence sector. In opening the meeting, he said that “our task is to protect ourselves against the risk of foreign partners not fulfilling their contractual obligations. This includes risks of a political nature too”. (CG)