European Union countries are still struggling to agree on new sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, as member states continue to haggle over just how tough enforcement should be,
Bloomberg reports.
The main aim of the EU’s 11th sanctions package, which the bloc originally hoped to adopt around last month’s Group of Seven summit in Japan, is to tighten loopholes and tackle circumvention. Envoys to the bloc didn’t reach an agreement in the latest discussions this week.
That goal is particularly acute in terms of cracking down on Moscow’s ability to source banned technologies through third countries — such as the United Arab Emirates, Armenia, Kazakhstan and others in central Asia — that end up in Russian weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, proposed a new mechanism to target countries that aren’t doing enough to prevent Russia from evading export restrictions.
The primary aim of the tool would be to deter governments from helping Russia. But if diplomatic pressure proves ineffective, the mechanism would give member states the power to adopt targeted export restrictions on key goods. It would feature two lists: one of restricted goods, and the other of countries which the listed items can’t be sent to.
However, a group of countries, including France and Germany, have been seeking to weaken the proposal’s criteria by raising the bar on when it can target a country and limiting the scope of the trade sectors it covers, according to diplomats familiar with discussions over the past weeks and days.
Others would prefer targeting companies first rather than countries, despite arguments that new firms are easy to set up and such a move would mean the bloc having to constantly chase new entities that pop up.
