At the Feb. 23 meeting in Brussels of the European Union Foreign Affairs Council, the opposition of Hungary, and also Slovakia, prevented the approval of the proposed 20th package of sanctions against Russia, and also the €90 billion loan to Ukraine. This was expected, since Hungary’s stance was made clear in advance. A unanimity of EU members is required. Now, it is expected that the EU war party crowd, with EU foreign affairs envoy Kaja Kallas in the lead, is already on the move to scuttle the unanimity requirement, and instead enforce a new “qualified majority” vote, and push through their intended measures.
The sanctions package includes stiffening naval search-and-seize mandates against Russia-serving vessels, penalties for trafficking in Russian oil and gas, and other measures.
