A ban on coal imports is the smallest possible energy sanction that can be imposed on Russia.
In combination with the other measures included in the European Union's new, now fifth, sanctions package, the loss to Putin's war machine would not be insignificant.
Nevertheless, what the Commission has now proposed remains far below what Ukraine, some governments in Eastern Europe and parts of the German public imagine.
If the member states agree to the package, Putin would keep his main source of income for the time being: exports of oil and gas to Europe.
minimizing your own damage
Commission President von der Leyen presented the package as a response to the alleged Russian war crimes in Bucha. But other factors clearly also play a role that influenced European politics in this century conflict from the start: disagreement among the member states, minimizing their own damage, Upgrading opportunities for future rounds.
That's sensible statesmanship, hard as the images from the war zone are to bear.
An oil and gas embargo will not stop Putin immediately, his (military) reserves are large.
It is important that the EU becomes independent of Russia as quickly as possible.
But it should do so in stages, with the goal that Putin will always be weakened more than it is itself. This conflict may last for a long time, maybe years, and it will be unrelenting.
What really matters right now is arms shipments.
Hopefully the idea that Ukraine will lose the war anyway has now disappeared from the minds of Berlin.
The West has denied Ukraine security from NATO.
At least the heavy weapons that the country demands should be delivered as much and as quickly as possible.
Ukraine holds the front that separates Europe from barbarism.