The European Union intends to toughen its sanctions policy towards Russia after Hungary leaves the post of EU Council president at the end of the year and Poland takes over. The newspaper Politico reported this.
Warsaw has already made it clear, as the publication underlines, that “it wants to use the six-month leadership [в ЕС]to reinforce control over Russian fuel entering the continent.”
“Import of Russian energy resources. [растет] <>, we have to fix this” — Politico quotes the words of Poland’s Deputy Minister of Climate and Environment Krzysztof Bolestyreports TASS.
According to diplomats and officials, the Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orbán used his country’s presidency to effectively halt sanctions negotiations, the publication says. Member States are now counting on Poland to put hot topics back on the agenda.
“We hope that all <> issues are resolved without delay,” said the community’s senior diplomat. “We have to admit that the sanctions regime is not working as it should: there are problems with liquefied natural gas. [СПГ]”There are problems with oil, there are problems with certain goods,” – he added.
According to Politico, 10 countries, including Finland, France, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the three Baltic countries, issued a joint statement noting that the EU has “recently increased imports of Russian LNG” and that “these natural gas suppliers are now no longer are duly identified.” The document, to which the publication had access, demands stricter controls on the origin of the gas entering the block.
As reported, on June 24, 2024, the European Union approved the fourteenth package of sanctions against Russia. It includes, among other things, the prohibition of the transit of Russian liquefied natural gas through community ports, of investments, of the supply of goods and services to complete the Arctic LNG 2 and Murmansk LNG projects, and of the use of the transport system by companies not operating in Russia financial messages from the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. 116 individuals and legal entities were also subject to sanctions.
