The Polish EU presidency, which will take office in January, would once again bring up the issue of sanctions against Hungary.
The European Union is trying to gain new momentum in the matter of sanctions against Russia, after Hungary will soon hand over the baton to the Polish presidency, rejoices Politico. New sanctions have not been discussed for months, and the American-owned news portal specifically resents this.
Poland has already indicated that it aims to further tighten the control of energy carriers flowing from Russia to Europe, especially those that avoid the existing restrictions.
According to the paper, Krzysztof Bolesta, Poland's Minister of Climate and Environmental Protection, warned that
the increase in Russian energy imports is a worrying sign.
Although the EU has already introduced significant restrictions on Russian oil and natural gas, Moscow uses many loopholes and continues to sell its fossil energy carriers on the world market using tanker ships that are difficult to track.
According to the minister cited by the paper, it is therefore increasingly urgent for the EU to rethink its sanctions strategy, and the Polish presidency offers an opportunity to do so.
The author of Politico notes bitterly that, according to EU diplomats and officials, Viktor Orbán essentially stopped discussions about sanctions during our country's EU presidency. They admit that the winter period will be particularly difficult for Ukraine, but a proposal from the Commission is required for a new sanctions package, and the discussions so far have stalled on many points.
It is worth interjecting: already at the time of the first sanctions in the spring of 2022, the original plan was to bring the war aggressor to his knees with these measures. According to them, this certainly did not succeed.
Poland's presidency is also expected to place great emphasis on increasing transparency regarding how much Russian fossil energy enters the EU.
Several member states have already indicated that Russian LNG imports have increased.
The new sanctions packages are expected to be aimed at evading the existing measures, especially with regard to the oil price ceiling, which so far has not proven to be effective. Obviously, Politico does not mention that the Hungarian government had indicated this in advance.
Cover image: Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk (b) is received by Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission
Source: MTI/EPA/Olivier Hoslet
