The EU May Stop Adopting Sanctions in “Packages”: What Are the Arguments?
27 July 18:12
European Union authorities are considering the possibility of moving away from grouping anti-war sanctions against Russia into packages, the Financial Times (FT) reported on its website on Monday, July 27, according to "Komersant Ukrainian".
Brussels was prompted to take this step by Greece’s blocking of the adoption of the 21st package of EU sanctions, which included a ban on the transport of Russian liquefied natural gas, the authors note.
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Earlier, the FT reported that Athens’ stance was linked to a desire to protect the interests of Greek billionaire George Prokopiou, whose shipping company, Dynagas, handles precisely such shipments.
“European officials are looking for ways to speed up the approval of more targeted financial restrictions so that EU member states have fewer opportunities to use their veto power in negotiations,” the July 27 article states.
As three unnamed European officials told reporters, the EU is currently working to find a way to counter this tactic, which is being used more and more frequently in negotiations over EU sanctions, as member state governments seek to protect companies that continue to do business with Russia.
The option to adopt EU sanctions separately
One proposal involves adopting sanctions individually or in small thematic blocks going forward. Proponents of this approach believe this would reduce the risk of measures being delayed due to vetoes by individual states.
According to the FT, EU sanctions have so far been adopted in the form of large-scale packages to achieve greater public relations impact or to time them to coincide with specific dates—such as the anniversary of Russia’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine. However, according to one of the newspaper’s sources, the 21st sanctions package, agreed upon on July 23, may be the last such “package.”
According to media reports, the Greek company Dynagas operates 27 gas carriers, including vessels built to meet safety requirements for operating in the icy Arctic waters near the Yamal LNG plant. “Since the beginning of 2025, the company has transported over 10 million metric tons of Russian LNG on 11 vessels, completing 144 voyages during that time,” journalists calculated.
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