While European heads of state and government converged on the Czech capital, the eighth set of sanctions against Russia was validated in the morning in Brussels. It sanctions the holding of referendums for the annexation of four regions of Ukraine, illegal in the eyes of the West, as well as the escalation of tensions. In particular, it provides for trade bans on Russian steel.
Belgium opted to abstain. “The question is how we can maintain the solidarity of European countries and our people to continue to support Ukraine. Certainly, the military successes achieved by Ukraine help (…), but if the economic cost becomes so high and that people lose their jobs, it will become difficult”, according to the head of the federal government. Belgium, however, refuses the blockage, because “we do not want to break European solidarity”, he added.
Belgium and more particularly Wallonia were worried about the new restrictions planned on the steel trade, arguing for some form of transition. In the Chamber on Monday, PS deputy André Flahaut even mentioned a risk of factory closure: “if we accept this eighth package of sanctions, it is clear that two factories in Belgium (of the Russian steelmaker) NLMK, located in Clabecq and La Louvière, will be directly impacted”. The adopted package finally provides for a maximum transition period of two years before the prohibition of two semi-finished products “for which certain EU operators will have to diversify their supply (outside Russia) in large quantities”, explained a European official.
Alexander De Croo, who spoke in Prague with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Chmyhal alongside his Dutch and Luxembourg colleagues, had warned earlier in the week of the risk of an increasingly asymmetric impact of sanctions in some Member States. “Sanctions have worked very well so far, but the further we go in new measures, the more we talk about sanctions that will hurt our economy more than the Russian economy,” he said.
As for a ban on Russian diamond imports, it is still not part of the European sanctions. If it became necessary, Belgium would not oppose it, assured Mr. De Croo, but the sector and the European Commission would have already agreed to significant reductions. Russian exports to Antwerp have therefore fallen considerably, according to the Prime Minister.