Sanctions against Russia: The bitter embargo

Now the oil embargo is finally on the table.

Given Russia's crimes in Ukraine, it took too long for the European Commission to come up with this sanction.

Although there can still be no talk of an embargo in the true sense.

The EU can and will continue to buy oil from Russia until the end of the year.

Only then does the import ban take effect.

For the Hungarians and Slovaks, who are particularly dependent on the Russian oil pipelines, the end should only be at the end of 2023.

Even that is not enough for them, as the first exchange of views between the ambassadors showed.

The Europeans will continue to fill President Vladimir Putin's war chest with billions for the time being.

From a moral point of view, this is difficult to bear.

On the other hand, the Commission had no choice.

The resistance in the member states was and is too great to act faster.

This is driving concern that the domestic economy and consumers will be overwhelmed by the price surge for oil, petrol and diesel that will inevitably follow a rapid import freeze.

The federal government, too, first greatly reduced its dependency on Russian oil before it switched to an embargo course.

Incidentally, to the displeasure of the US government, which also has no interest in high gasoline prices for their SUV and pick-up drivers.

One can argue that an effective embargo always hurts those who impose it.

However, he must also be able to endure and persevere, otherwise nothing will be achieved in the end.

This is exactly what the EU Commission's step-by-step embargo is intended to enable.

In addition, nobody is helped if Putin can sell his oil elsewhere and then even use it to politically win third countries over to his side with discount prices.

The Commission is trying to deal with this with a cargo ban for European oil tankers.

But that won't be enough.

The EU must continue to work with the US to use incentives and pressure to discourage states like India from buying up the oil that is being released.

The bitter truth is that only then can the embargo have any effect.