Dombrovskis on sanctions pressure on Russia: EU always reaches unity

That’s according to Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Commissioner for Economy, Implementation and Simplification, who spoke at a briefing during a visit to Kyiv on Thursday.

“Decision-making in European Union for sanctions implies unanimity, so eventually, we need to get all EU member states on board. Indeed, sometimes it requires difficult discussions, but at the end of the day, we have been always able to reach that unity and to continue to apply this pressure,” the commissioner told journalists, answering a question of whether there are mechanisms to prevent Hungary from blocking further decisions on Russia sanctions.

Commenting on possibilities of changing the mechanism of decision-making in the EU, he said: “In the European Union, different policy areas are decided according to different procedures, and those procedures are enshrined int the EU Treaty. We are bound by the provisions as they are in the Treaty.”

The commissioner recalled that the EU had recently extended its sanctions against Russia, is implementing 16 sanctions packages against Russia, and will continue to put as pressure on Russia and Belarus.

He separately added that the European commission is also intensively working in supporting Ukraine in its European path and continuing to make progress in this regard.

“But obviously also these steps require unity of all member states so we are also working with member states to make sure that all of them are on board,” he admitted.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on March 18, Ukraine and Hungary’s top diplomats, Andrii Sybiha and Peter Szijjarto, agreed to meet to discuss all pressing issues on the bilateral agenda.

On March 14, COREPER extended individual sanctions against persons involved in violating or threatening Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Hungary reportedly withdrew their objections to the move after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with his Hungarian counterpart over the phone.