The European Union's sanctions on Russia are already yielding results, the European Parliament was told yesterday, as MEPs urged the European Council to extend sanctions at a leaders' summit later this month.
In the parliament’s first debate on EU-Russian relations since a number of MEPs were included last month in a blacklist of 89 EU individuals banned from travelling to Russia, a majority of MEPs called on EU leaders to maintain or increase economic pressure on Russia when they gather in Brussels for an EU summit on June 25th and 26th.
Opening the debate, Lithuanian MEP Gabrielius Landsbergis, who compiled a report on EU-Russia relations to be voted on tomorrow, said his committee had been barred from entering Russia on a fact-finding mission.
Describing the Russian black list as "untransparent, illegal and arbitrary," he said its publication was "not only disrespectful to the European Parliament, but an insult to the European Union as a whole".
He added that the recent poor performance of the Russian economy, though reflecting in part the fall in oil prices, proved that that the EU sanctions regime was working.
Green MEP Rebecca Harms, who has been banned from entering Russia, said the situation in Ukraine was "disastrous".
“The country has lost a large part of its territory; its industrial basis is destroyed, she said. “In addition, 5,000 people have died, 10,000 have been injured, and thousands of traumatised children have been living in the cellars of Donetsk.”
In response to the publication of the leaked blacklist, the European Parliament has imposed retaliatory measures, including banning the Russian ambassador to the EU from the parliament. In addition, European Parliament president Martin Schulz has suspended engagement with the EU-Russia Parliamentary Co-operation committee.
Not all MEPs were in favour of tougher action on Russia, however. German MEP Gabriele Zimmer criticised the retaliatory action taken by the parliament.
“We think it’s wrong, we think it’s problematic and we think members of parliament should be encouraged to make the most of any opportunity for dialogue and to see if relations between the EU and Russia can be improved,” she said.
She added that, under rules of procedure, the parliament president had an obligation to discuss any decision in relation to third countries with the Conference of Presidents, comprising the leaders of the parliament’s political groups or their representatives, as well as Mr Schulz.
While the EU is expected to extend the "phase three" sanctions, which are up for renewal this July, at the June summit, US president Barack Obama earlier this week raised the prospect of new sanctions against Russia if Moscow continued to violate the Minsk ceasefire agreement, signed in September and aimed at ending the fighting in eastern Ukraine.
With a number of European countries still opposed to further sanctions against Moscow, securing agreement at an EU level for further retaliatory measures is likely to be challenging.
Nonetheless, calls for tougher sanctions were voiced by MEPs, with the chair of the centre-right European People's Party, German MEP Manfred Weber, calling for additional sanctions against Russia if there was no progress in eastern Ukraine.
EU Council president Donald Tusk, a former prime minister of Poland, is also likely to take a tough stance on Russia at the summit. Speaking at the G7 summit in Germany at the weekend he said that the European Union stood firm in support of Ukraine's "territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence".
“If anyone wants to start a debate about changing the sanctions regime, the discussion could only be about strengthening it,” he said.
The debate on EU-Russia relations took place amid signs that the Minsk agreement is fragmenting, after more than 20 people died in fighting around Donetsk last week.
