The European Union is poised to approve a new package of sanctions against Russia after Austria dropped its objections on Monday, the Financial Times reported.
The newspaper said that the 12th package of sanctions could be approved as early as Monday as the remaining issues are largely procedural. Austria had been blocking the package in an effort to get Russia’s largest bank, Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI), removed from Ukraine’s blacklist.
The Ukrainian National Anti-Corruption Bureau had added the Austrian bank to its blacklist for continuing to operate in Russia. Austria withdrew its objections to the EU’s 12th package of sanctions after RBI was removed from Ukraine’s blacklist.
The American newspaper Politico noted that Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer was not present in the meeting room when the EU agreed to the new sanctions package.
It is worth noting that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had left the room at the suggestion of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz “to have coffee” while EU leaders issued their decision to start accession negotiations with Ukraine. The EU charter states that EU decisions must be taken by consensus, but it does not object to their approval if one member is absent.
