70th day of war in Eastern Europe: European Commission President Ursula von der Lane, a senior EU official, today (Wednesday) called for the creation of a bloc of 27 countries banning the import of oil from Russia. Lane also called, according to an AP report, to boycott Russia’s largest bank and major broadcasters – which would constitute a sixth package of sanctions against Moscow over the war in Ukraine.
In a speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, von der Lane proposed to EU member states to stop importing crude oil from Russia within six months and refined products by the end of the year. “We will make sure that we export Russian oil in an orderly manner, in a way that will allow us and our partners to ensure alternative supply routes and minimize the impact on global markets,” von der Lane said.
Its proposals need to be unanimously approved by the EU to take effect – but there are likely to be disagreements. Von Der Lane acknowledged that getting all 27 member states – some landless and highly dependent on Russia for energy supply – to agree on oil sanctions would “not be easy.” Today, the EU gets about 25% of its oil from Russia, most of which goes to gasoline and diesel to vehicles.
Russia supplies about 14% of the diesel, and its break this may increase the prices of fuel used for trucks and tractors. If von der Lane’s proposals are approved, the ban on oil imports would be the second package of EU sanctions targeting Russia’s lucrative energy industry over the war in Ukraine, which Putin began 70 days ago. In addition to sanctions on various bodies and individuals – including Putin himself and his family – the EU has previously approved an embargo on coal imports.
The EU has begun discussions on a possible embargo on natural gas, but here it will be more difficult to secure a consensus among member states on a ban on importing fuel used to generate electricity and heat homes, as Europe receives about 40% of its natural gas from Russia. As a sign of the political pressure exerted by von der Lane to expand EU sanctions on energy in Russia, some MEPs today stepped up their calls to also ban the import of natural gas from Russia.
“This is great news that we are going through the oil embargo,” Luis Garricano, a Spanish member of the European Parliament, said after von der Lane’s announcement. “But as you know it is much less than what this parliament wants. In fact, a month ago we asked for a full embargo on gas and oil,” he added. Hungary and Slovakia have already announced that they will not participate in the sanctions on oil, but von der Lane did not elaborate on whether they will be exempted from the sanctions, although that is probably what will happen.