EU fails to agree on next round of Russia sanctions – Politico

EU ambassadors were unable to reach an agreement over a new package of sanctions against Russia on Wednesday and will continue negotiations next week, Politico has reported, citing diplomatic sources. 

Sources told the outlet that the European Commission presented another version of the sanctions proposal ahead of the meeting on Wednesday, but that didn’t lead to a deal while some questions were still open. 

According to a Politico report on Thursday, several EU countries, including “heavy-hitters” Germany and France, have been raising concerns over some of the punitive measures.

The 11th sanctions package focuses on preventing circumvention of existing sanctions and includes a new mechanism to potentially punish countries outside of the EU that enable sanction evasion. That has reportedly been “sensitive” for some members of the bloc, particularly Germany, which feared the new law could affect relations with countries such as Türkiye and China, Politico wrote.

“The Commission has already watered down its initial proposals to accommodate these concerns,” according to the report, citing one of the diplomats as saying that the issue seemed “solvable.” 

However, Greece and Hungary have reportedly also been blocking a deal as long as Ukraine lists several companies from those countries as “war sponsors.” Athens and Budapest want that designation removed from those companies before they will agree to the sanctions package, the outlet explained.

EU ambassadors will now discuss the proposal again at their meeting on June 14, Politico wrote. “We are getting closer,” one of the diplomats said.

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