by Dan Alexe No decision on new sanctions against Russia will be taken at the extraordinary EU Foreign Affairs Council on Thursday. This was announced by the Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics, whose country is chairing the Council during this semester. "I want to say right away that there will be no conclusive decisions on specific sanctions this Thursday. Most probably, a task will be given to prepare proposals, on which the Foreign Affairs Council might decide on Feb. 9," the Latvian minister said. Latvia's position is that the sanctions against Russia must be increased if the situation in eastern Ukraine continues to deteriorate. "If the situation improves the sanctions can be eased. If the situation remains unchanged the sanctions must remain unchanged too. If the situation deteriorates it is necessary to discuss stepping them up," Rinkevics said. Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Commission Vice-President for Social Dialogue and the EU from Latvia, also told journalists in Brussels on Tuesday that the bloc's current sanctions against Russia would be lifted or increased depending on Russia's actions. "The sanctions can be revised in any direction -- they can be increased, or, in the optimistic scenario, eased," Dombrovskis said. EU foreign ministers are expected in principle to consider fresh sanctions against Russia at their extraordinary meeting this Thursday amid new escalation in Ukraine. The Latvian foreign minister did not mention Greece, but there is a high probability that in case of new sanctions Greece might use its veto. A first clash with Athens happened on Tuesday, when the new Greek government rejected the Council's statement on Ukraine. Athens accused the Council as well as EEAS and Federica Mogherini of proceeding with the document without Greece's consent, just minutes after the new Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras took office in Athens. “The Statement of Heads of State and Government of the EU published today was circulated without the proper procedures being followed in order to obtain the consent of Member States and specifically Greece's consent”, announced the new Greek Prime Minister's Office, Dimitris Tzanakopoulos. “Within this context we clarify that it does not have our country's consent. Our displeasure for this was expressed during a telephone conversation of the Prime Minister with the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini as well at the proper level, by the Permanet Representation of Greece to the EU”, he added. The new Greek foreign minister, Nikos Kotzias,might block new sanctions on Russia at the Council in Brussels. Kotzias is a professor of European Studies, a former member of the Greek Communist Party and a well-known friend of Russia. In the past he spoke against what he calls a "German-dominated Europe" and, in the 1980s, he praised the Polish government's crackdown on the Solidarity movement. As soon as he became foreign minister, on 27 January, he accused the outgoing minister, Evangelos Venizelos, from the Nea Demokratia, of having let Brussels use Greece’s debt in order to force Athens to align itself with the rest of the EU. Sympathy for Russia runs deep through the Greek psyche, and many politicians, as well as part of the population, hope that Moscow would come to the rescue financially, as it tried to do with Cyprus in 2012. The present dispute started after the European Council president Donald Tusk said that in the January 29 meeting of foreign ministers "further restrictive measures" against Russia should be considered. Donald Tusk comes from the Polish Solidarity movement, which makes him the ideological opposite of some of the people forming the present Greek government. Also, Tusk has an uncompromising stance against Russia, which was seen as a salutary counterbalance to the softer attitude of Federica Mogherini, the chief of the EU’s diplomacy, but which might foresee further clashes with Athens. Carl Bildt, the Swedish foreign minister and former EU Commissioner tweeted this about his new Greek colleague: This does not look entirely good. New Greek FM in distinctly dubious company. We’ll see what it means. https://t.co/wp63f0l7jx — Carl Bildt (@carlbildt) January 27, 2015 --- PHOTO: Newly appointed Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias during the handover ceremony at the Foreign Ministry in Athens, Greece, 27 January 2015. EPA / SIMELA PANTZARTZI
 |
| READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.neurope.eu |
