Austria’s bid to free Russian assets tests EU unity on sanctions

EU ambassadors are once again meeting in Brussels this Wednesday trying to agree on a new round of sanctions against Russia. But this time Austria, besides Hungary and Slovakia, has thrown a spanner in the works. Vienna is pushing for what it calls a “derogation”, a kind of legal exception, that would allow frozen Russian…

Par

EU ambassadors are once again meeting in Brussels this Wednesday trying to agree on a new round of sanctions against Russia. But this time Austria, besides Hungary and Slovakia, has thrown a spanner in the works.

Vienna is pushing for what it calls a “derogation”, a kind of legal exception, that would allow frozen Russian assets to be released under certain conditions. But why does Austria want to unfreeze money linked to sanctioned Russian oligarchs and where does that leave the rest of the EU?

Join us on our journey through the events that shape the European continent and the European Union.

InVivo

The newsletter that takes you to the heart of European news.

Every other week

Your data is processed in accordance with the GDPR.

Every two weeks, a personal story takes you to a different European country to help you understand how current social and environmental issues shape our daily lives. In each issue, our team selects three cultural recommendations to explore the topic from a different angle. Available in French, English, and Italian—and it’s free.