'Progress' made on EU sanctions package which includes banning Russian oil

Micheál Martin said the EU would discuss the importance of the liquidity supports that will be made available to Ukraine and its budget requirements.

“Significant progress” has been made by EU member states on a sanctions package against Russia which includes banning oil, the Taoiseach has said.

Micheál Martin, speaking ahead of the Special Meeting of the EU Council on Monday, said the meeting would be “clearly dominated” by the war on Ukraine and all the consequences that flow from it.

“Significant progress has been made by member states in respect to finalising a text in terms of the six sanctions, which includes a ban on the importation of Russian oil in the context of seaborne oil,” he told the Irish Examiner.

“There will be important discussions on that this evening, significant progress was made on that text, [which] I think will be significant when you add to that other sanctions.

He said there will be "significant sanctions for banking in a Russian context but the key one being focused on oil, because Russia is using the income from oil to finance its war and Ireland is very strongly supportive of the work that has been done in relation to the sixth round of sanctions.” 

Mr Martin said the EU would discuss the importance of the liquidity supports that will be made available to Ukraine and its budget requirements.

“The formal methodology of that is yet to be determined, but around €9bn would be provided to underpin the current budgetary side for Ukraine in the coming year,” he added.

“But obviously, there's a much larger piece of work to be done in respect to the reconstruction of Ukraine in the aftermath of the war.” 

The report on EU strategy which was published in advance of today's meeting and focused on reducing dependency on Russian fossil fuels with stronger targets for renewables and a broader programme around energy efficiency and creating higher targets for member states across Europe.

Food concerns

The other key issue in the paper is food security, which has become a more prominent concern amid the climate emergency and Putin’s war in Ukraine. Ukraine is one of the largest grain and sunflower oil producers in the world.

The Taoiseach added the global situation around food security is a "big worry" arising out of the war. He also said that the Middle East and African states "are highly dependent on that food supply". 

"And we are getting increasing warnings from World Food Programme and others that we could be facing very, very serious issues around famine and food security towards the latter end of the year.” 

Mr Martin said he understands the frustrations and anger of Ukrainian people who say the EU are arguing about money while war rages, given what they are facing and “the terror has been waged on them the levelling of towns or villages.” However, Mr Martin added that some countries are more dependent on Russian oil and gas than others.

“The need to get consensus is an important one to maintain unity. That said, I do believe that significant progress has been made and there's an onus on all countries, all member states at this meeting to sanction what has been concluded in the text."

It has been reported that Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been reticent to sign off on the package, and the Taoiseach called on the prime minister to support this package.