The European Union may revise its mechanism for imposing sanctions on Russia because Athens delayed the adoption of the latest package of measures for several weeks, securing exemptions for a Greek shipping company. The Financial Times (FT) reported this.
According to the newspaper, Athens refused to support the new sanctions package until the other EU countries agreed to grant an exemption for Dynagas. It is noted that the Greek side sought to ensure that the company’s vessels could continue transporting Russian liquefied natural gas to countries outside the bloc. The publication notes that this is the first time the EU’s overall system of economic sanctions against Russia has been weakened. At the same time, as emphasized in the article, “the existing strategy allowed capitals to see that many EU member states would face the economic consequences of sanctions decisions.”
Now, FT reports, Brussels is discussing new approaches to introducing restrictions. Officials are considering the possibility of approving sanctions individually or in small thematic blocks. Such an approach is expected to reduce the risk that one country’s national veto will delay the approval of other measures. Greek officials, for their part, insisted that the ban on LNG transportation had been agreed by mistake, would harm Dynagas rather than the Russian economy, and would benefit competing shipowners from China and other non-EU countries, the newspaper said.
