The European Union\u2019s 14th package of sanctions being considered against Russia following the invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago, has been met with scepticism by a number of member states, including Cyprus, according to converging international reports.
\nSince late February (23\/2), when the EU imposed its 13th set of sanctions, the next list of restrictive measures has been drawn up. This new package is expected to be finalisedin the next couple of weeks, while a new related draft was discussed last Wednesday.
\nThe proposed measures include a ban on exports of Russian liquified natural gas.
\nHowever, countries in the European South with extensive activity in the shipping sector, do not view this approach in positive terms, namely Greece, Cyprus and Malta. The Cypriot representative argued that this measure will backfire, a position backed by Athens and Valetta.
\nA report by the Financial Times Brussels correspondent indicates that \u201cGreece, Cyprus and Malta have opposed such measures, arguing that they would lead ship managers to use even more opaque methods to hide their fleets. This, according to the member states in question, will increase the risk of a major shipping disaster and damage the shipping industry more broadly.\u201d
\nElsewhere it is clarified that \u201cthe biggest issue concerns the tightening of sanctions against tankers used by Russia to transport crude oil with unverified insurance and opaque ownership structures.\u201d
\nThe report based on EU officials aware of the discussions, has been quoted by many international publications as credible.
\nThe article also records however the specificity of the proposed measure, as \u201cit will be the first time that the European Union officially targets Russia\u2019s natural gas products\u201d.
\nBeyond the European South however, a number of other countries are on the other side of the spectrum, describing the latest proposed energy sanctions as a step forward.
\nCyprus is one of the countries with direct cost from Russian sanctions, as the administrative services sector took a heavy hit. It did however demonstrate a high degree of compliance with President Christodoulides taking specific action.shipping industry. sanctions, Russia, European Union<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The European Union is considering a new package of sanctions against Russia, including a ban on exports of Russian liquified natural gas. Some member states, such as Cyprus, Greece, and Malta, are skeptical of these measures, believing they could lead to negative consequences in the shipping industry. On the other hand, other countries view the proposed energy sanctions as a step forward. This would be the first time the EU officially targets Russia’s natural gas products. Cyprus has been directly impacted by Russian sanctions in the past, particularly in the administrative services sector.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":13137,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[5936,3323,2149,9331,2510,1031,1776,2577,6262,49,3,2464,10095,6021,358,379,5855,2404,1606,2515,4548,747,1823,1991,7818,187,3595,148,9334,3443,758,5076,10900,5821,4843,2405,7320,4620,4054,19,11207,331,6903,1806,1062,124,796,9384,5583,11043,114,8239,17,10262],"class_list":["post-13136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cyprus","tag-article","tag-athens","tag-ban","tag-battles","tag-brussels","tag-christodoulides","tag-compliance","tag-concerns","tag-consequences","tag-crude-oil","tag-cyprus","tag-damage","tag-discussions","tag-draft","tag-energy","tag-eu","tag-eu-sanctions","tag-european-union","tag-exports","tag-february","tag-gas","tag-greece","tag-increase","tag-industry","tag-insurance","tag-international","tag-lng","tag-local","tag-malta","tag-member-states","tag-natural-gas","tag-oil","tag-ownership","tag-package","tag-president","tag-president-christodoulides","tag-products","tag-report","tag-risk","tag-russia","tag-sancions","tag-sanctions","tag-scepticism","tag-services","tag-services-sector","tag-ship","tag-shipping","tag-shipping-industry","tag-shipping-sector","tag-targets","tag-top-news","tag-transport","tag-ukraine","tag-view"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n