The European Union has finally agreed on its ‘third-level sanctions’ against Russia for its actions in Ukraine. As is usual for the EU, arriving at this point has been a long and difficult process.
A key problem all along has been that, though sanctions serve a common purpose, the costs of implementing them are borne by individual member states. Moreover, the costs are very concrete and visible, as jobs in enterprises that depend on exports to Russia seem to be at stake. So it was not surprising that many member states were more concerned about the potential cost of the sanctions …read more
Source: European Voice