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EU Commission urges: Is there now also an oil and gas embargo?

2022-04-06T14:22:07.538Z


EU Commission urges: Is there now also an oil and gas embargo? Created: 04/06/2022, 16:13 Natural gas pipe: In Brussels, calls for an embargo on Russian oil and gas are getting louder and louder. © Harald Schneider/dpa In view of the atrocities in Ukraine, calls for an embargo on Russian oil and gas are growing louder in Brussels. Strasbourg – After the atrocities in Bucha* and the EU Commissi


EU Commission urges: Is there now also an oil and gas embargo?

Created: 04/06/2022, 16:13

Natural gas pipe: In Brussels, calls for an embargo on Russian oil and gas are getting louder and louder.

© Harald Schneider/dpa

In view of the atrocities in Ukraine, calls for an embargo on Russian oil and gas are growing louder in Brussels.

Strasbourg – After the atrocities in Bucha* and the EU Commission's proposal for an embargo on Russian coal imports, a stop in oil and gas supplies is also being discussed.

"I think that action on oil or even gas will be needed sooner or later," said EU Council President Charles Michel on Wednesday in the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

Ukraine-News: EU pays billions to Russia for energy imports

According to EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, the EU has paid 35 billion euros for energy imports* to Russia since the beginning of the war.

On the other hand, Ukraine was only granted one billion euros for weapons and military equipment*, he said on Wednesday in Strasbourg.

"Today we stop the coal, but that's a very small part of the bill," he said.

One must now also look at oil, said Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

On Tuesday, the EU Commission proposed to ban coal deliveries from Russia* in order to deprive the country of further sources of income to finance its war against Ukraine*.

The EU states must now decide unanimously on the measure.

It is currently planned that there will be a three-month transitional period for the coal import ban, during which deliveries should still be possible.

The EU mainly buys fossil fuels from Russia - so it can exert a lot of pressure here through sanctions.

According to statistics agency Eurostat, almost two-thirds of all imports from Russia to the EU are energy.

The federal states paid 99 billion euros for this last year.

Last year, energy was sometimes much cheaper than this year.

The EU Commission announced on Wednesday that it will provide technical assistance to 17 countries to reduce Russian imports of fossil fuels as quickly as possible.

Barley expects import ban on Russian oil

EU Parliament Vice-President Katarina Barley told the ZDF morning magazine that she expects an EU import ban on oil from Russia next.

"Oil will also come relatively quickly, I think." Banning Russian gas imports would be difficult, Barley said.

This would not only have a problem in Germany, but also in other countries.

According to Manfred Weber, leader of the EPP group in the European Parliament, a majority in Parliament would support a resolution against oil imports.

However, sanctions are decided by the member states.

Ifo President Clemens Fuest, on the other hand, called for an immediate gas embargo.

"If it makes any sense to stop gas imports from Russia, then immediately," Fuest wrote in an article published on Wednesday by the Munich Ifo Institute for Economic Research.

"It seems very doubtful today whether we want to end these imports in 2024, as the federal government is now planning." After the end of the Ukraine war, it would be wiser to import gas from Russia again - in order to be able to continue to put pressure on Russia.

The federal government and German industry reject the gas embargo

German industry supports the planned coal sanctions against Russia, but warns of a gas embargo.

"The implementation is not easy and has its price, but the decision is more than understandable against the background of the escalation of violence," said Siegfried Russwurm, President of the Federation of German Industries, the German Press Agency with a view to coal.

The situation with gas is completely different, according to Russwurm: "A complete failure of Russian gas supplies, which other suppliers cannot replace in the short term, would be a huge stress test for the EU - with unforeseeable consequences for security of supply, growth, employment and our political ability to act." the chemical association VCI also warned of a gas embargo.

German importers: Refraining from Russian coal will not be possible until next winter

According to the German importers, Russian coal could be dispensed with completely, but not until next winter, and there was a risk of higher prices.

"Russian hard coal can be replaced by coal from other countries such as the USA, South Africa, Australia, Colombia, Mozambique and Indonesia," said Alexander Bethe, chairman of the coal importers' association, to the newspapers of the Funke media group.

(

dpa,lf

)

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-04-06

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