Will Europe do without Russian oil?
It would only be a "matter of days", according to Clément Beaune.
An agreement on the embargo project of the European Union is possible "within the week", estimated this Tuesday the French Secretary of State for European Affairs.
“I think we can have an agreement within the week, that is in any case the aim of the French presidency.
We are working hard on it, ”said Clément Beaune on the LCI channel.
➡#Embargo on Russian oil
🗣️@CBaune: The European Union could reach an agreement "within the week" (...) "There will be a 6th package of European sanctions and they will be very powerful"
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“We have to move quickly, and I say this with confidence: there will be a sixth package of European sanctions, they will be very powerful and we will gradually, with a timetable, get out of Russian oil first but Russian hydrocarbons in general”, he continued.
If Europe has made known its desire to do without Russian oil, not all the Member States agree, even though this type of decision requires unanimity.
Result: Hungary, which voted no, blocks the project.
This morning on LCI Clément Beaune ensures that telephone contacts between European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and Hungarian President Viktor Orban will take place on Tuesday.
What to move the lines?
Ursula von der Leyen had reported "progress" after a meeting with Mr. Orban in Budapest on Monday.
Towards the end of unanimity?
A landlocked country dependent on its hydrocarbon purchases from Russia, Hungary is asking its EU partners for guarantees on its energy supplies to agree to a sixth package of sanctions against Moscow including a halt to Russian oil purchases .
“There are exit doors around derogations of two kinds: the delay for certain countries objectively in difficulty, because 100% of their oil supply comes from Russia, and then alternative supply guarantees.
These are the two parameters we are working on,” said Mr. Beaune.
Five sanctions packages have already been adopted against Russia since its invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
While the Europeans have succeeded in uniting and making coordinated progress in the response to Russian aggression on the continent, some regret a certain rigidity in European procedures.
Ursula von der Leyen and Emmanuel Macron thus indicated yesterday, Europe Day, that they were in favor of the abolition of unanimity for certain important decisions.
“If sovereignty is blockage and the inability to act together, it is not true sovereignty (…) We need more effective decision-making tools”, declared Clément Beaune, showing himself also agree with this idea of reform.