EU Member States Again Fail to Agree on 21st Sanctions Package Against Russia

The European Union's Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper) failed to reach an agreement on the 21st sanctions package against Russia on Tuesday, according to sources cited by European Pravda. Discussions will resume on Wednesday.

Ireland, which currently holds the EU presidency, spent over four hours trying to broker a compromise with member states that have objections to specific points of the package. Ireland has proposed several compromise suggestions to be discussed on Wednesday.

On Monday, EU foreign ministers also failed to agree on the package, but the bloc's top foreign affairs representative, Kaja Kallas, expressed hope that an agreement could be reached on Wednesday.

Currently, Greece is blocking the adoption of the sanctions package due to objections in the energy sector, particularly regarding permission to re-export Russian liquefied natural gas to third countries. Austria has objections on financial issues.

Previously, Bulgaria had threatened to block the 21st sanctions package, demanding that Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill and Lukoil founder Vagit Alekperov be removed from the sanctions list. Italy also objected to including the Patriarch, influenced by the Vatican's position.