The European Union has approved new sanctions against Russia, including a maximum limit on the price of Russian oil and on refined products. The green light arrived this morning during Coreper, the meeting of the representatives of the member countries and represents a response to the illegal annexation of four Ukrainian regions by Russia carried out after the bogus referendums of the past few weeks.
The eighth package of sanctions against Russia
The latest sanctions, approved by EU ambassadors on Wednesday morning, introduce new import bans which should keep some Russian products out of the EU and deprive Moscow of revenues of about 7 billion euros. Expected too stop the export of products manufactured in the Union, especially the key technology used by the Russian military, such as aircraft, electronic and chemical components. The package also includes a new provision that prevents EU citizens from sitting on the boards of directors of Russian state-owned companies and the inclusion of new individuals and entities accused of undermining Ukraine's territorial sovereignty in the now large EU blacklist.
The sanctions will formally enter into force after their publication in the Official Journal of the EU, scheduled for the end of this week.
The price cap on oil
Fossil fuels constitute 45% of the federal budget of Russia. For this reason, Western countries have been discussing for months the introduction of a price cap (both on gas and oil) which limits the revenues that Moscow is using, among other things, to finance the invasion of Ukraine.
Last September 2, G7 finance ministers they had approved a plan to cap the price of oil from Russia. The EU's new sanctions package approved this morning delivers the “legal basis” to support this limitation. As reported by the Financial Times, which cites officials briefed on the talks as sources, the exact details of the price cap are not included in the package, but will be set later by the G7. In fact, a new unanimous agreement is needed for the limit to become operational. “The EU also agreed that it would take account of theimpact on their economies of the price ceiling, in deciding how to impose it”, underlines the English newspaper.
Gas price ceiling for electricity: von der Leyen's proposal
“High gas prices are driving up electricity prices. We need to limit this inflationary impact of gas on electricity everywhere in Europe. For this reason, we are ready to discuss a ceiling on the price of gas used to generate electricity. This ceiling would also be a first step towards a structural reform of the electricity market”, said the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, speaking at the plenary session of the European Parliament.
“We need to look at gas prices beyond the electricity market as well. Such a cap on gas prices needs to be designed in an appropriate way to ensure security of supply. And it's about a temporary solution to address the fact that TTF, our main pricing benchmark, is no longer representative of our market, which now includes more LNG,” continued von der Leyen.
“We have decreased our gas consumption by about 10%. We have to do more but it is an important fact – he added – Sulla Russian gas supply, at the beginning of the war it was of 41% and now it's from 7,5%”, von der Leyen said, noting that they were “compensated for Russian supplies with supplies from trusted countries such as the United States and Norway”. In addition, he concluded, "gas storage is almost 90%, 15% more than last year."
The president of the EU Commission also proposed to “strengthen RePowerEU with additional joint funding. In this way all European states can speed up the necessary investments”.
Gas flows from Russia to Italy resumed
Meanwhile Eni announced today that they are gas flows from Gazprom to Italy resumed. "The resumption of supplies was made possible by the resolution by Eni and the parties involved of the constraints deriving from the new legislation introduced by the Austrian regulatory authorities", the company led by Claudio Descalzi communicated in a statement.
"Supplies had been cut off last October XNUMXst – explains the company – due to the declared impossibility of transporting the gas through Austria” motivated by Gazprom.
“Gazprom and the Italian buyers managed to agree on the cooperation format amid regulatory changes in Austria at the end of September. The Austrian operator has communicated its willingness to confirm the transport appointments of Gazprom Export, which makes it possible to resume supplies of Russian gas through Austrian territory”, reads a note from Gazprom cited by Tass.
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