Tight deadlines: EU pushes through opponents of sanctions against Russia
The European Union is forcing Slovakia and Bulgaria to impose new sanctions against Russia, Izvestia found out. According to sources, Brussels plans to reach a consensus on the 21st package by the meeting of the EU Council on Foreign Affairs on July 13. The rush is connected, among other things, with the transfer of the presidency to Ireland. At the same time, the new list of restrictions does not contain anything new in principle: it is mainly planned to replenish the blacklists of banks, ships and individuals. The sanctions will not have a significant impact on the Russian economy, experts say.
Who in the EU is against the new package of sanctions
Brussels has increased pressure on countries that do not support the sanctions policy against Russia. The goal of the EU leadership is to force them to unanimously adopt the 21st package of restrictions. In particular, Slovakia has already made a decision on this matter, Lubos Blaha, deputy head of the ruling Smer party, told Izvestia.
—The geopolitical context forces our coalition government to make certain compromises, it has decided not to block sanctions if they do not harm Slovakia's economic and energy interests," the MEP stressed.
At the same time, Blaha noted that "the EU's anti-Russian sanctions are hypocritical, contradict the spirit of international law and ultimately cause more harm to Europe than to Russia." However, in addition to Smer, the ruling coalition in the country includes the Slovak National Party and Golos — Social Democracy. The latter is considered the most pro-European of the three, and its leader Peter Pellegrini also holds the post of President of the republic.
Now it's the turn of Bulgaria, where Rumen Radev, who is considered pro—Russian, recently came to power. The EU will put pressure on Sofia to force it to change its position on the 21st package of sanctions, Petar Volgin, a member of the European Parliament from this country, told Izvestia.
—All acceptable means — and, of course, unacceptable ones — will be used to force Bulgaria not to try to deviate from the line of Brussels," the politician said.
Sofia is vulnerable to EU pressure due to the difficult economic situation and high levels of poverty. The country is critically dependent on payments received under the European "recovery and sustainability plan". The Union has already frozen funds, for example, for Hungary under Viktor Orban, justifying this by observing the "rule of law." In May, the European Parliament issued a "final warning" to Slovakia, threatening to freeze payments from the general budget of the European Union and special recovery funds.
Previously, any Bulgarian government has followed the directives of the European Commission. But now the official statements of the authorities indicate that Sofia still intends to change this policy, the MEP concluded. Political analyst Ilya Shcherbakov believes that Bulgaria will maintain its position on the non-inclusion of Patriarch Kirill in the 21st package of EU sanctions. This is due to the existence of religious ties between the political leadership of Sofia, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and official Moscow and the Russian Orthodox Church. Vadim Trukhachev, an associate professor at the Financial University, however, believes that the exclusion of the church hierarch will be the only concession Sofia can bargain with Brussels.
At the same time, other countries are dissatisfied with certain provisions of the package. Greece, Malta and Cyprus fear a loss of revenue due to the European Commission's proposal to freeze the current price ceiling for Russian oil for six months at once. According to media reports, France and Italy do not support the ban on entry to the EU for current and former Russian military personnel, fearing that vague formulations will entail restrictions for all citizens of the Russian Federation. Russians, in particular, despite all the sanctions, generate a huge flow of tourists to these countries. Brussels will negotiate with them instead of direct blackmail and, perhaps, even change the required wording.
When is the EU planning to adopt the 21st package of sanctions
Despite all the disagreements, the permanent representatives of the EU countries are in a hurry to agree on the 21st package of anti-Russian sanctions for the meeting of the EU Council on Foreign Affairs on July 13, a European source told Izvestia.
"Ireland, which holds the presidency of the EU Council, is working to reach a compromise that will ensure the unanimous support of all member states and allow the package to be adopted as soon as possible," another source said.
The Europeans can really accelerate, since on July 1 Ireland became the chairman of the EU Council, which made support for Ukraine and pressure on the Russian Federation its priorities. The chairmanship here allows the country, among other things, to determine the agenda of meetings. The previous chairman of the EU Council, Cyprus, was not very keen to promote the next sanctions and they were often postponed because public opinion on the island is in favor of Russia, Vadim Trukhachev said.
In his opinion, if disagreements persist, the decision on the 21st package will be postponed to September. In this case, the European diplomats will have time to persuade those who disagree until the autumn. The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, also promised to work intensively on the adoption of the next restrictions against Russia on July 6.
At the same time, there is practically nothing fundamentally new in the upcoming package of sanctions, although it is considered the largest in the last two years. It provides for an increase in blacklists of banks, organizations, courts and individuals. Exports of high-performance alloys and nickel powders, as well as precious metal ores, chemicals and some types of fish will be banned. The restrictions will also affect ordinary Russians.: The EC proposes to ban entry to the EU for all those who have served in the Russian Armed Forces since February 2022. However, the proposed sanctions measures will not have a significant impact on the Russian economy, said Ekaterina Arapova, a leading researcher and head of the research program at the MGIMO Institute of International Studies at the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Sooner or later, Brussels will achieve the adoption of the 21st package of sanctions against Russia. The next restrictions have already become a symbol of EU policy, and the union cannot abandon them yet. The last ties with Moscow are under the knife, and by the end of 2026, Russia may leave the list of the 20 main trading partners of the European Union. Therefore, in the event of normalization of relations in the future, it will now be much more difficult for the EU to restore even approximately the previous level of interaction with Russia.
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