Slovakia will demand that the vote on the 18th package of EU sanctions against Russia be postponed until it receives permission to continue buying Russian gas after 2027.

This is stated in a letter from Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the text of which he published on the social network X.

In the letter, he sharply criticized the European Commission’s proposal to completely abandon Russian gas imports after January 1, 2028, as part of the REPowerEU strategy.

“The Slovak Republic will never support REPowerEU in gas supply, as it will harm Slovak households and the economy,” Fico stressed.

At the same time, he admitted that Slovakia cannot block the adoption of the REPowerEU strategy, which involves abandoning Russian energy sources, so the country will block new sanctions against Russia.

“I am fully aware that the Slovak Republic cannot exercise its veto right on the REPowerEU proposal. We consider this proposal to be a sanction and therefore naturally link it to the proposed 18th package of sanctions against the Russian Federation. Therefore, we expect that the vote on the 18th package can only take place after the significant risks associated with REPowerEU in the field of gas supply from 2028 have been resolved,” Fico said.

As reported, this week Slovakia again blocked the adoption of the 18th package of sanctions against Russia, which was planned to be approved at a meeting of EU foreign ministers on July 15.

What is known about the 18th package of EU sanctions against Russia?

It is known that Slovakia vetoed the 18th package of sanctions against Russia proposed by the European Commission, not because of the content of the package itself, but because it is not satisfied with the European Commission’s RePowerEU plan, which provides for a complete abandonment of Russian energy sources by 2027.

At the same time, Bratislava cannot block the adoption of this plan, since it does not require consensus, so it blocks sanctions against Russia, which require a unanimous decision by all its member states.

As a reminder, at the end of June, the European Council extended the current sanctions against Russia for another six months, but was unable to adopt the 18th package of sanctions against Russia for the war it unleashed against Ukraine. According to media reports, the decision was postponed due to the position of Slovakia and Hungary .

On July 4 and July 11, ambassadors of the European Union countries (Coreper) returned to the issue of the 18th package of EU sanctions against Russia , but were unable to approve it due to Slovakia’s position.

The 18th package of EU sanctions against Russia proposed by the European Commission proposed to impose restrictions on nine individuals and 33 legal entities, as well as to lower the ceiling price for Russian oil from $60 to around $45 per barrel and expand restrictions on the Russian “shadow fleet”.

The European Commission also proposes to impose sanctions against the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 projects to prevent their resumption, disconnect 22 more Russian banks from SWIFT, impose sanctions against the Russian Direct Investment Fund, its subsidiaries and investment projects, and ban the export of goods to the Russian Federation worth more than 2.5 billion euros per year.

Author:  Mykhailo Orlyuk Джерело: https://censor.net/n3563724

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