EU countries struggle to agree Russian oil ban

BBC:

EU countries struggle to agree Russian oil ban

'We are not there yet' on oil ban - EU chief

EPACopyright: EPA

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says the EU is "not there yet" with regards to an agreement on a sixth package of sanctions, including a potential ban on Russian oil imports.

"It's never been easy. It's the same now with the sixth package," she told reporters as she arrived ahead of a summit of the 27 EU leaders.

"It is very important to have fairness for all, we haven't found a solution for that yet.

"My expectations are low that it will be solved in the next 48 hours. But I'm confident that thereafter there will be a possibility," she said.

The EU requires the approval of all member states to introduce the sanctions, despite announcing them nearly a month ago.

As we've been reporting, Hungary, which relies heavily on Russian oil, is the main opponent of a ban in imports.

Posted at 23:12 30 May23:12 30 May

How reliant is the EU on Russian energy supplies?


As we've been reporting, EU leaders are due to meet later to discuss a ban on Russian oil imports. Ambassadors from EU countries have already been holding talks.

The proposed move would be part of the EU's sixth sanctions package imposed on Russia as a result of its invasion of Ukraine.

One issue, however, has been the bloc's existing reliance on Russian supplies.

Russia supplies 40% of the EU's natural gas and 27% of its oil imports, for which EU nations pay roughly €400bn (£341bn) a year.

Reliance on these imports varies from country to country, with some like Germany and the Netherlands particularly heavy consumers of Russian oil and gas.

Want to know more? Read our explainer here.

Posted at 22:49 30 May22:49 30 May

EU struggles to agree on Russia oil sanctions



Jessica Parker
Reporting from Brussels

The EU’s beleaguered oil sanctions ban wasn’t even officially up for discussion at this week’s summit of leaders. But, as the elephant in the room, it’s now marched its way onto the agenda.

A senior official said the European Council would now try to reach a “political agreement” on the issue.

The hope will be that such an agreement can hand ambassadors – who deal with the nitty, gritty detail – enough momentum to get over the remaining technical hurdles.

All eyes will now be on Hungary. Budapest has been vocally resisting the embargo for weeks and its Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, made it plain he doesn’t think the issue should be discussed at today’s summit.

This package, which does contain other measures, has been watered down. But officials are keen to point out that targeting seaborne supplies first (while leaving pipeline oil until later) still accounts for around two thirds of Russian oil imports.

Nevertheless, this last minute bid to get a political agreement from leaders may be seen as an attempt to save a summit that was being completely overshadowed by weeks of wrangling over the EU’s elusive sixth package of sanctions.