The question of an import ban on Russian oil and gas continues to divide the European Union: Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) again rejected the call for such an embargo by Ukraine and eastern EU countries. At the EU summit in Versailles, France, he emphasized that the effects of EU sanctions on Europeans must be “as small as possible”. “We want to continue on this course,” he added.
The US and UK have already imposed an energy embargo on Russia. There are also calls for such a punitive measure in the EU because Russia is financing its war in Ukraine in large part through its natural gas and oil supplies to Europe. In Germany, however, a further massive increase in energy prices is feared in this case.
Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins called on the EU to take bold steps: “We should stop energy imports from Russia in order to bring Putin to the negotiating table,” Karins said. The Europeans must do everything “to stop Putin and his neo-imperialism”. He expressed the hope that Germany would rethink.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in Versailles that the EU was at a “crossing point”. Europeans must end their dependence on Russian fossil fuels such as natural gas, oil and coal.
Source: Stern
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