Despite the acceleration imposed by the images of the Bucha massacre, the European Union risks stalling in the search for an immediate response to Vladimir Putin. And on the question of questions she appears divided. At the end of the Eurogroup in Luxembourg, the Commissioner for Economic Affairs Paolo Gentiloni admitted that the political conditions for a European embargo on Russian gas do not yet exist. More likely a ban on oil. But the question is: when?
The German government, after the initial openings by Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht, corrected the pitch yesterday by saying that “we need more time”. The fifth package of sanctions will arrive tomorrow on the table of the 27 ambassadors of the EU states. And France, which leads the rotating presidency of the Council, is pressing for a solution capable of holding together the concerns of the countries most dependent on gas imports with the demands of those who want to hit the Kremlin hard on the energy sector.
French President Emmanuel Macron spoke about it yesterday during a radio intervention, explicitly citing the hypothesis of inserting an embargo on oil and coal in the new package, which are more easily replaceable than gas and therefore with a less heavy impact for the European economy.
Brussels would be working on this, but they acknowledge, but here too the interests at stake are significant. “At the moment, Germany is the main obstacle to imposing tougher sanctions on Russia” attacked Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. Poland – as La Stampa explains – is supported by the United Kingdom, which continues to put pressure on its European allies. But Berlin is not isolated. The Austrian government was also very clear: Finance Minister Magnus Brunner rejected the embargo on gas because “it is wrong to adopt sanctions that do more harm to us than to Russia”. Not to mention that Orban’s Hungary also ranks on this line, which even made it known that it could use the power of veto to suspend any decision.
Positions that only reiterate the weakness of the Union with respect to the horror of war and Putin’s positions. Yesterday the offices of the Commission – writes Repubblica – sent the executives of the 27 a sort of informal memo in which it was acknowledged that one cannot wait too long, pointing out the sectors that, in ascending order, can affect the interests of the Union the most: coal, oil, gas.
And the question of payment in rubles is still pending: tomorrow the EU should confirm the line of intransigence, as confirmed by Gentiloni to the Eurogroup. Meanwhile, the German government has decided to “temporarily” take control of the branches of Gazprom Germany to “protect and maintain security of supply.”
Even Italy, in reality, is certainly not so convinced of starting to raise the bar by banning the purchases of methane from Russia. Rome, however, would not object. And next Monday the prime minister, Mario Draghi, will most likely fly to Algiers to discuss new forms of procurement.
On the sanctions on the energy sector, there was also an appeal signed by 207 MEPs from all political groups (except for the left GUE) calling for a total embargo on oil, coal and gas, the closure of ports to Russian goods and ships , the total disconnection of all Russian banks from the Swift circuit and an extension of the list of oligarchs. The only Italian is Sandro Gozi, exponent of Italia Viva, elected in Strasbourg with Macron’s “Renaissance” list.
Today the finance ministers of the 27 will discuss at Ecofin the possible economic impact linked to any energy sanctions. Gentiloni explained that this year growth will certainly be less than the 4% initially expected, but that at the moment it is difficult to quantify the decline. Tomorrow the ambassadors have a mandate to approve the sanctions. Closing these two days without having taken a path would make the European paralysis evident. While, among other things, the NATO summit of foreign ministers will also take place in Brussels tomorrow and Thursday. At the last summit, the European allies had asked for time, at least until May. But the events of Bucha seem to no longer be able to grant all this time.
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