European Union countries failed to agree to ban Russian oil imports despite last-minute attempts ahead of a Brussels summit on Monday, exposing a row over the expansion of sanctions against Moscow over its war on Ukraine as economic risks mount to Europe.
A draft of the summit's final statement showed that the leaders of the 27 European Union countries would agree in principle to an oil embargo, but would postpone practical details and difficult decisions until later.
The European Union has imposed 5 packages of sanctions against Russia since the conflict began more than 3 months ago, which indicates unprecedented speed and unity in light of the complexity of the procedures.
But over the course of weeks, the agreement on oil sanctions proved difficult because many countries depend on Russian crude.
There is no middle ground
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban stressed upon his arrival to attend the two-day summit that no acceptable settlement had been reached yet on the European embargo on Russian oil, and demanded "guarantees" about his country's supplies.
"There is absolutely no compromise at this point," he said.
This was also confirmed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen - who proposed the latest package of sanctions at the beginning of May - saying, "We have not reached that point yet."
There is broad agreement with the rest of the package, which includes isolating Sberbank, Russia's largest bank, from the SWIFT system for international payments, banning Russian radio and television stations in the European Union, and placing others on a list of individuals whose assets have been frozen.
But a senior European Commission official said the entire package - including the oil embargo - should be agreed at once.
Estonian Prime Minister Kaia Kallas said it was realistic to reach an agreement on the Russian oil embargo within a few weeks, noting that she hoped it would be done at the next EU summit scheduled for June 23-24.
Reconstruction of Ukraine, grain transportation and energy prices
The draft final statement - which has been seen by Reuters and may be subject to review again - confirms that the sixth package of EU sanctions will include a ban on imports of seaborne oil, with sanctions subsequently imposed on pipeline oil supplied to Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. non-coastal.
But one tangible outcome of the summit is likely to be leaders' support for a €9 billion EU loan package so that Ukraine can keep its government running and paying salaries for about two months.
The draft showed that European Union leaders will support the creation of an international fund to rebuild Ukraine after the war, without details, and they want to discuss the possibility of confiscating frozen Russian assets for this purpose.
The leaders will pledge to speed up work to help Ukraine transport its grain out of the country to global buyers by rail and truck due to the Russian navy's shutdown of normal sea routes and take steps to de-energize Russia faster.
The draft showed that leaders are ready to explore ways to curb rising energy prices, including the feasibility of setting temporary price caps, cutting red tape on introducing renewable energy sources, and investing in cross-border national energy grids to boost state assistance.