Commission President Ursula von der Leyen chose, on Tuesday 9 May, to celebrate Europe Day in Kyiv, which commemorates Robert Schuman’s speech 73 years ago, now considered the founding moment of European construction. Symbolically, Ukraine, which is a candidate for entry into the Union, has in fact also decided to celebrate this anniversary.
On the occasion of this visit – it is the fifth time that Ursula von der Leyen has visited the Ukrainian capital – President Volodymyr Zelensky once again called on the Europeans to speed up their deliveries of ammunition and to open speed up his country’s accession negotiations. He also asked them to lift European restrictions “unacceptable” And “cruel” on Ukrainian grain exports, which some Member States, led by Poland, obtained in order to protect their farmers.
Ursula von der Leyen, for her part, presented to her host the new package of sanctions against Russia – the eleventh since the start of the war on February 24, 2022 – which she has just submitted to the Member States and whose ambassadors from the Twenty-Seven with the European Union (EU) were to discuss Wednesday. “Our sanctions are working”insists the former minister of Angela Merkel, who wants proof that “We have reduced our imports from Russia by almost two thirds”. That said, she continues, “the objective of this package is to fight against their circumvention”.
“Tool of last resort”
To do this, it is first a question of extending to new advanced technologies, in particular
to aeronautical components, the list of European goods prohibited from transiting via Russia, in order to prevent them from remaining there and help the Kremlin to maintain its military industry.
Second part of this plan: provide the EU with a tool that will allow it to prevent the export of certain goods to certain third countries if it should prove that these are destined to end up in Russia. “The objective is to prevent goods banned from export to Russia from finding a way to supply the Russian military complex”summarizes the spokesman of the Commission, Eric Mamer.
In fact, countries in Central Asia and the Caucasus have considerably increased their imports of European goods, in particular dual-use products, such as refrigerators, washing machines, calculators or even printers, whose electronic components can be fitted Russian radars or drones. “These goods end up in Russia”, says Ursula von der Leyen. Turkey, China and the United Arab Emirates could also be affected.
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