Good morning from Brussels. Mared Gwyn here with all the insights to start your day.
We start today with a sanctions update: Brussels is eagerly anticipating the European Commission’s proposal for a new package of economic sanctions against Russia, which is most likely to be presented sometime today, our in-house sanctions connoisseur Jorge Liboreiro writes in to report.
The package, number 21st since February 2022, is expected to focus on the price cap on Russian oil, currently set at $44 per barrel. According to EU rules, the cap must be periodically adjusted to remain 15% below the average market price for Russian crude. Since the price of Urals crude has surged in reaction to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the next revision, pencilled for 15 July, should be upward rather than downward.
Of course, nobody in Brussels wants to provide Moscow with any relief at a time when drones and missiles fall on Ukrainian cities. So the Commission is expected to either delay the revision or propose a fixed figure. The goat, at any rate, is to lock it in. As we previously reported, hopes for a full ban on maritime services for Russian oil tankers have all but vanished, shifting the focus back to the cap (which the ban was supposed to terminate).
