“Crimes against humanity” according to the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, murder of humanity and “war crimes” according to the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, “barbarism”, “atrocities”, “terrifying and unbearable images and testimonies” according to MEPs... The abuses committed in Bucha did not fail to cause a reaction on Wednesday 6 April during a debate in the European Parliament.
In retaliation for these abuses, Member States are discussing additional measures (see other news) based on Commission proposals detailed on 5 April by Ms von der Leyen, including a coal embargo (see EUROPE 12926/8). The closure of European ports to Russian ships, also proposed, was welcomed by several political group leaders.
Despite these new measures - which will not be the last, according to Ms von der Leyen - most representatives of the political groups called for more to be done.
“We cannot remain paralysed, without reacting, we need more sanctions”, stressed Greens/EFA co-president Ska Keller (Germany).
“Coal is important, but you said that it represents €4 billion per year, against €1 billion per day for the rest, the impact will hardly be significant”, Marco Zanni (ID, Italy) reminded Ms von der Leyen. Thus, in addition to coal, according to EPP group chairman Manfred Weber, there is a broad consensus in the European Parliament to stop Russian oil imports into the EU.
The chairs of the S&D group, Iratxe García Pérez (Spain), and Renew Europe, Stephane Séjourné (France), went further and called for a gas embargo. “We know that it is difficult, that there might sometimes be technically insurmountable issues, but at this stage of the horror, we should get ready for it”, Mr Séjourné said, warning that we should be prepared for the worst discoveries in Kharkiv and Mariupol.
The joint resolution to be voted on Thursday calls for an “immediate total embargo on Russian imports of oil, coal, nuclear fuel and gas as quickly as possible”. However, an amendment that will also be put to the vote calls for an immediate gas embargo.
During the debate, Mr Michel acknowledged that “measures on oil and even gas will be necessary sooner or later”.
Weber and Séjourné also called for Russia to be excluded from Swift, García Pérez for the Kremlin’s access to cryptocurrency exchanges to be cut off, and for measures against those who make life easier for oligarchs, Russian banks and energy giants.
“We need to hit the oligarchs even harder. This is the only way to weaken Putin enough to force him to negotiate (...) Why don’t you demand a list of all Russian oligarchs holding assets from European tax havens, under penalty of massive sanctions?”, said Manon Aubry (The Left, France) to the European Commission.
“A wider segment of Russian officials, governors and mayors as well as members of the economic elite who respect and benefit from the current policy of the Putin regime should be targeted by the sanctions”, says the joint draft resolution, which also calls for measures against public figures who spread aggressive propaganda in Russia in support of Russian aggression against Ukraine.
The draft resolution also calls for the establishment of a clear plan of action vis-à-vis third countries that facilitate Russia’s circumvention of sanctions and the introduction of secondary sanctions on all EU and third country entities assisting in the circumvention of these measures.
Keeping Europe together
While several MEPs insisted on European unity, Mr Zanni was pessimistic about the future. “Sanctions are a step forward, but let’s not fool ourselves, it is an issue that will end up dividing us, because we know that the impact of these sanctions is uneven depending on the Member States, we must take this into account”, he warned, calling for an acceleration of the debate on aid, which could convince the most recalcitrant countries to accept certain sanctions. “As time goes by, Europe’s reaction will weaken, we will go towards a kind of normalisation, this is what has happened more than once, I am afraid that this will happen in the future”, was the concern of Ryszard Legutko (ECR, Poland).
Aid to Ukraine
Mr Weber also called for additional arms deliveries to Ukraine, a request that was included in the joint resolution. “We need heavy weapons - the Czech tank deliveries are a good signal - and if we are not prepared for a ‘no-fly zone’, Ukraine needs anti-aircraft missiles”, he said.
He also, like Manon Aubry, called for additional financial support for Ukraine, which may soon be bankrupt. Ms Aubry even called for the cancellation of the Ukrainian debt.
Finally, many MEPs, like Mr Michel and Ms von der Leyen, have called for international investigations into the atrocities in Ukraine. The joint resolution calls on the EU institutions to take all necessary measures to prosecute the actions of Mr Putin and Mr Lukashenko as “war crimes and crimes against humanity”, and to actively participate in the investigations in this regard, even calling for the creation of a special UN tribunal. According to an EU source, an amendment calling Mr Putin a “war criminal” will be put to the vote.
Mr Michel, for his part, called on Russian soldiers to drop their weapons, saying the idea put forward by MEPs - offering asylum to soldiers who disobey - was “good” and needed to be strengthened.
See the draft resolution: https://aeur.eu/f/14y (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)