The EU summit failed to approve the 18th package of anti-Russian sanctions, work on it will continue.
This was stated by the head of the European Council António Costa at a press conference after the summit.
„Work on the 18th package of sanctions will continue, it is at an advanced stage“, he said.
In turn, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said that work on the 18th set of restrictions “is in full swing“, but did not indicate a possible deadline for its completion.
According to diplomatic sources in Brussels, Slovakia has blocked the approval of the next sanctions package at the summit, now this issue will be discussed again by the ambassadors of the EU countries.
The head of the EU diplomatic service, Kaia Kallas, said on the sidelines of the NATO summit in The Hague on June 25 that the 18th package would be adopted “before the end of the week“, probably at a high-level meeting of the community.
The EU summit, planned for two days, lasted one day. The leaders of the member states did not comment on this circumstance. However, according to sources, “the summit participants reached an agreement on all possible issues on Thursday and noted the impossibility of reaching an agreement on several points at this stage“.
The second point on which disagreements arose was the decision to start negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU, which was blocked by Hungary.
The Dutch authorities expect the EU countries to reach a consensus on the 18th package of anti-Russian sanctions no later than two weeks. This was stated by the acting Prime Minister of the Kingdom, Dick Schoff.
The politician noted that the official extension of all current sanctions has already been carried out, but the new package is still being discussed. According to him, the key element remains negotiations with some countries, in particular Slovakia, which has expressed concerns about the issue of oil and gas exports.
“The discussion continues at the level of foreign ministers and now it is a matter for the foreign policy department“, added Schoff.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán believes that he had an extremely difficult time at the EU summit in Brussels, explaining to other leaders why he could not support Ukraine's accession to the community.
He confirmed that he had blocked a joint statement in support of Kiev at the summit, which essentially gave the green light to start EU accession negotiations.
In a short interview with the YouTube channel Patriota after the Brussels meeting, he said that the Hungarian position was met there “with obvious disapproval“. According to the prime minister, when he said that Hungary would not agree to start negotiations with the Ukrainians "for fundamental and strategic reasons", he was "almost overcome by popular anger". "Although I tried to present everything politely, clearly and with reason", Orbán added.
The prime minister said he was encouraged by the results of the referendum held in Hungary on Ukraine's accession to the European Union. More than 2 million people took part in it, of which 95% voted against Ukraine's accelerated accession to the EU. Before the summit, Orbán noted that he would be guided by the results of the vote in negotiations with the leaders of other countries.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico believes that the European Commission will succeed in reaching a decision to stop imports of Russian gas to the European Union.
He made a video address on his Facebook page after a meeting with EC President Ursula von der Leyen.
Fico explained that the proposal will be adopted by a qualified majority vote of EU countries. “And although we will be against it, this proposal will be adopted. In practice, this will mean that gas will not flow from east to west, and Slovakia will be supplied from other sources - from the north, south and west. This will mean a significant increase in transit tariff payments for Slovakia“, the prime minister said.
He discussed with von der Leyen the possibility of minimizing transit tariffs and gas prices for Slovakia in the event of a suspension of gas imports from the Russian Federation from January 1, 2028. If effective measures are not taken to prevent the negative consequences of the refusal of Russian raw materials, the price of gas for Slovak consumers could increase by 30-50%.
Fico stressed that Slovakia has contracts with Gazprom for gas supplies until 2034. The Russian company may seek compensation from Bratislava for unilateral termination through the court. According to the prime minister, a possible complaint from Gazprom would be completely understandable, and the republic would have to pay 16-20 billion euros. “These are, of course, questions to which the EC still has no answer“, the head of government noted.
The European Commission, as Fico said, “wants to stop gas flows from Russia to Europe at all costs“, and Slovakia expects the EC to compensate for the damage that will be caused to it by the suspension of Russian gas imports.
“We will continue to negotiate very constructively with the EC about what the EC can do for us to eliminate the damage that this ideological proposal will cause to Slovakia“, Fico stressed.
As Fico noted, Slovakia will propose to postpone the vote on new sanctions against Russia on Friday. If this proposal is not accepted, the republic will veto it, he said.
The primary task, according to the prime minister, is to resolve the situation with the import of energy raw materials.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed hope that the EU will continue to provide financial support to Kiev.
„Everyone knows that war creates a budget deficit. We count on your continued support to cover our budgetary needs, especially in the coming year,” he said, addressing the participants of the European Council meeting via video link, the video of which was published on his Telegram channel.
The European Union plans to secure a new loan of 11 billion euros to Ukraine from the Group of Seven as part of a 50 billion euro program, which will be repaid with proceeds from the reinvestment of frozen Russian assets.
This was announced by the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, at a press conference after the EU summit.