EU Commissioner warns of more sanctions on Russian transport sector
The EU Commissioner for Home Affairs says the EU may adopt measures against the Russian transport sector if the situation in Ukraine worsens.
Ylva Johansson, the EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, said on Tuesday that the European Union is ready to adopt more measures against Russia's transport sector if the situation in Ukraine grows worse.
The war in Ukraine, according to Johansson, is negatively affecting both European and Russian transport sectors.
"If the situation on the ground [in Ukraine] continues to deteriorate, I can assure you that the commission will not hesitate to introduce additional measures [targeting the Russian transport sector]," Johansson said during the European Parliament’s session on the impact of the Russian operation in Ukraine on the EU transport and tourism sectors.
The European Parliament had called on the European Commission earlier today to ready a support strategy to lessen the burden brought on by Covid-19 and Russian sanctions amid its consideration of a package of sanctions on Russia's transport industry.
The French Minister for the Ecological Transition, Barbara Pompili, told reporters ahead of the EU Energy Council's meeting in Brussels yesterday that the meeting will focus exclusively on gas issues, Pompili said, adding that the European Union wants to show that they are all "unanimous in continuing to pay for contracts [for Russian gas] in euros and will not allow unilateral modifications in the contracts to be imposed on us."