15/12/2017 (Agence Europe) – On Thursday 14 December, the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, announced that the European Union was united on the need to extend economic sanctions against Russia, over the crisis in Ukraine. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that many efforts had been made but despite everything, not enough progress had been made to lift the sanctions. Before the discussions of the European Council, a French government source said that progress in the implementation of the Minsk agreements had been “objectively very limited”. According to a source from the Estonian Presidency of the Council of the EU, legal procedures will begin next week. The extension of the sanctions may officially take place on Wednesday 20 December, by written procedure (see EUROPE 11131). (CG)