Negotiations are well underway in the Council of the European Union on the package of sanctions to respond to Russia’s escalating military invasion of Ukraine that the European Commission recently put forward (see EUROPE 13031/2).
The Member States’ ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) discussed the three-part package - listing of new sanctioned persons and entities, additional trade restrictions and a cap on the international price of Russian oil - on Friday 30 September and will meet again on Monday 3 October. Until then, Member State experts are invited to submit written objections over the weekend.
Coreper’s objective is to reach a unanimous agreement before the extraordinary summit of EU heads of state or government, who will meet in Prague on Thursday 6 and Friday 7 October, in particular to launch the European Political Community, a political forum bringing together the EU27 and 17 third countries on common strategic issues. If not, the issue may be raised to the highest political level.
The package of sanctions on the table was brought forward in particular because of the holding of sham referendums in Ukrainian territories occupied militarily by the Russians. On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin made the annexation of these territories official.
In the wake of this, the European Council unanimously condemned the “illegal” annexation of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. By deliberately undermining the UN Charter, “Russia is jeopardising global security”, the institution said. For the EU27, Mr Putin’s decision is null and void and will have “no legal effect”. “Crimea, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk are Ukraine”, they insisted.
The European Council promises to strengthen “restrictive measures to counter Russia’s illegal actions” and increase pressure on Moscow to end its war of aggression. The institution said the EU would continue to provide Ukraine with “substantial economic, military, social and financial support for as long as necessary” to enable it to assert its legitimate right to liberate illegally annexed territories.
New world. Russia is firing missiles at Ukrainians and has also fired “an energy missile at Europe (...) targeting the heart of our economic and social system”, said European Council President Charles Michel, acknowledging that “every household in Europe is affected by soaring energy bills and supermarket receipts”. He called for the development of “a new Energy Union” to “guarantee security of supply, affordable prices, and the climate transition”.
According to Mr Michel, “we have entered a new world” where many points of reference have been turned upside down. “We Europeans must mobilise. Not for war, of course. But instead we mobilise to preserve peace, to protect our security and the future of our children”, he stressed, promising that the European Union would leave no one behind. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)