“A group of 10 European Union countries is calling for tougher sanctions against Russia by imposing new restrictions on natural gas and tightening controls on compliance with the established price cap on oil.”, — write: epravda.com.ua
A group of 10 European Union countries is calling for tougher sanctions against Russia by imposing new restrictions on natural gas and tightening controls on compliance with the established price cap on oil. This is reported by the Bloomberg agency. Sweden, Ireland, Poland and three Baltic countries joined this initiative. They propose to ban the import of Russian pipeline natural gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) to EU countries in order to reduce the Kremlin’s revenues. Although the EU has already banned the import of Russian oil, the dependence of some countries on gas from Moscow has so far prevented sanctions against this resource.Advertisement: Any restrictive measures require the unanimous approval of all 27 EU member states. This became a significant obstacle due to the open skepticism of the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, towards such steps. “The ultimate goal should be to ban the import of Russian gas and LNG as soon as possible,” the document, which was also signed by Denmark, Finland, the Czech Republic and Romania, states. “An alternative to a total ban could be a gradual reduction in the use of Russian gas and LNG, as already foreseen in the RePowerEU roadmap.”Advertisement: The European Commission, the EU’s executive body, plans to present a detailed plan to phase out Russian energy next month. However, concern is growing in Europe about the gradual rise in gas prices caused by the cold weather and new US sanctions against Russian energy. Despite the EU’s energy diversification efforts, the total value of oil, gas and coal imports from Russia since the start of the war has exceeded €200 billion ($204 billion). This figure was indicated in a document that the initiator countries distributed among other EU members on the eve of the discussion of the new package of sanctions. Recall: Six countries of the European Union called on the European Commission to lower the price of Russian oil to $60 per barrel set by the G7 countries, arguing that this would reduce Moscow’s income, which is needed to continue the war in Ukraine, and at the same time would not cause a shock to the market.