- Fifth sanctions package ends coal imports
- Carbon sinks: Agriculture Council criticizes Commission plans
- EU monitoring
- France: uncertainty grows
- EU-China summit: Brussels’ mistakes
- TADPF: Data protection authorities formulate key points
- Lange: ‘Trade policy becomes energy policy’
- Environmental organization T&E: EU airlines target wrong emissions targets
- Food security: Özdemir warns against undermining climate protection
- Column: What’s cooking in Brussels?
On Thursday, the Russian state railroads announced that it intends to restrict rail transports to Poland from April 10, without giving any reasons. However, shipments to the EU are likely to decrease overall in the foreseeable future as yesterday, the 27 member states agreed on a fifth package of sanctions against Russia in response to the Bucha atrocities.
This also includes a ban on berthing ships under the Russian flag and further pressure on the banking sector – among other things, Russia’s second-largest bank, VTB Bank (formerly Vneshtorgbank), is subject to a complete ban on transactions. The import of timber, cement, and seafood into the EU is also to be banned entirely, and further export bans are to be imposed on Russia – including, as announced by the French Council Presidency, a ban on arms exports. However, the main focus is on energy sanctions again – Manuel Berkel analyzes how these fit into the overall structure of the European energy withdrawal from Russia and where new problems loom.
Yesterday, the EU agriculture ministers debated the Commission’s proposed revamp of the LULUCF Regulation. The regulation aims to strengthen natural CO2 sinks because reducing greenhouse gases alone will not be enough to achieve climate targets. Timo Landenberger analyzes the complex challenges the regulation has to meet.
In France, there could be a surprise in the first round of the presidential election on Sunday: Incumbent and favorite Emmanuel Macron is losing ground, not only to far-right Marine Le Pen but also to leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Tanja Kuchenbecker reports on what the current poll numbers mean for the election.
The EU-China summit ended last week – without significant results. The talks were poorly prepared, and Brussels approached Beijing with false expectations, as Finn Mayer-Kuckuk reports.
In today’s Column What’s cooking in Brussels, Claire Stam takes another look at what’s on the menu in Brussels. As Emmanuel Macron is under pressure in France’s first round of elections – so is democratic coexistence in the EU.
Lisa-Martina Klein
Feature
Fifth sanctions package ends coal imports
On Thursday evening, the permanent representatives of the member states approved the EU Commission’s proposals, which include an import ban on coal, wood, and other goods, as well as numerous other punitive measures. This was announced by the French EU Council Presidency on Twitter.
For the sanctions to enter into force, the necessary legal acts must now be adopted by written procedure and published in the Official Journal of the EU. These steps are considered a formality and are expected to be completed today.
Poland prevented an earlier conclusion of the negotiations. According to diplomats, the country initially did not want to accept that the transitional period for the import ban on Russian coal should be four months at the request of countries like Germany – and not three months, as planned by the Commission. Germany will probably need these 120 days to conclude new supply contracts, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in Berlin this evening. “If it can be done faster, that’s fine.”
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