In Brussels, Hungary also approved the ninth round of EU sanctions against Russia
The ambassadors of the European Union “made an agreement in principle” on Thursday evening in Brussels on the ninth round of sanctions against Russia. This includes new persons and banks. The written procedure ends on Friday.
The Czech presidency of the EU reported on Twitter that these ambassadors reached an agreement in principle on the new, now ninth, sanctions package against Russia at their meeting running parallel to the EU summit.
This includes newer names and institutions, but also extends to drone technology. After the agreement in principle, the sanctions will be finalized in a written procedure on Friday. In other words, if no member raises objections, they can enter into force.
According to Politico, the EU also decided to extend the existing punitive measures by half a year. The EU originally wanted a one-year extension here, but Hungary opposed this. As a reminder: the EU also reached a compromise with Hungary regarding the sanctions list, as Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó spoke about a few days ago. Szijjártó said that several persons were removed from the list under Hungarian pressure in order not to complicate diplomatic relations with Russia and possible peace negotiations. The piquancy of the sanctions decision is that the national consultation on the sanctions ends a few hours after the decision.
Poland released the veto, there are no more obstacles to EU funds
Meanwhile, also in Brussels, at the meeting of EU heads of state and government, Poland gave up its previous veto regarding the global minimum tax. With this, the last obstacle to the signing of the deal regarding Hungarian resources was removed, and the way was opened for the disbursement of the 18 billion euro Ukrainian aid package.
The Polish Prime Minister essentially gave up the veto submitted in the case of the global minimum tax in one day. According to Politico’s report, Mateusz Morawiecki was under a lot of pressure at the last summit in Brussels not to block the case any longer, because several very important projects are also getting in the way, and since last week the Czech presidency has been handling it in one package
- the 18 billion euro Ukrainian loan,
- the issue of the global minimum tax,
- and the rule of law mechanism blocking the two budget items affecting Hungary, the Recovery Funds and the seven-year budget.
Poland wanted to have the issue of Ukrainian aid treated separately from the global minimum tax, but the heads of state and government did not agree to this, so Warsaw gave up the veto.
Candidate status for Bosnia, postponement in the case of the gas cap
The heads of state and government also agreed to grant candidate status to Bosnia-Herzegovina. With this, the tri-entity country can move towards accession, although it is guaranteed that this process will be very long.
There was a big debate about the EU gas cap. This issue will be referred to the council of EU ambassadors, where they will deal with the matter on Monday. It was also announced in Brussels that the leaders will hold another summit in February.
Orbán: drain the Brussels swamp
In his video uploaded to Facebook, Viktor Orbán talks about how he thinks the swamp should be drained in Brussels and the corruption in the European Parliament should be eradicated.