No decision on new sanctions against Russia will be taken at the extraordinaryEU Foreign Affairs Council on Thursday.
This was announced by theLatvian Foreign MinisterEdgarsRinkevics, whose country is chairing the Council during thissemester.
"I want to say right away that there will be no conclusive decisions on specific sanctions this Thursday. Most probably, a task will be given to prepare proposals, on which the Foreign Affairs Council might decide on Feb. 9," the Latvian minister said.
Latvia's position is that the sanctions against Russia must be increased if the situation in eastern Ukraine continues to deteriorate.
"If the situation improves the sanctions can be eased. If the situation remains unchanged the sanctions must remain unchanged too. If the situation deteriorates it is necessary to discuss stepping them up,"Rinkevicssaid.
ValdisDombrovskis, the European Commission Vice-President for SocialDialogueand the EU from Latvia, also told journalists in Brussels on Tuesday that the bloc's current sanctions against Russia would be lifted or increased depending on Russia's actions.
"The sanctions can be revised in any direction -- they can be increased, or, in the optimistic scenario, eased,"Dombrovskissaid.
EU foreign ministers are expected in principle to consider fresh sanctions against Russia at their extraordinary meeting this Thursday amid new escalation in Ukraine.
The Latvian foreign minister did not mention Greece, but there is a high probability that in case of new sanctions Greece might use its veto.
A first clash with Athens happened on Tuesday, when the new Greek government rejected the Council's statement on Ukraine. Athens accusedthe Council aswellasEEASandFedericaMogheriniof proceeding with the document without Greece's consent, just minutes after the new Prime Minister, AlexisTsiprastook office in Athens.
“The Statement of Heads of State and Government of the EU published today was circulated without the proper procedures being followed in order to obtain the consent of Member States and specifically Greece's consent”, announced the new Greek Prime Minister's Office,DimitrisTzanakopoulos.
“Within this context we clarify that it does not have our country's consent. Our displeasure for this was expressed during a telephone conversation of the Prime Minister with the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security PolicyFedericaMogherinias well at the proper level, by thePermanetRepresentation of Greece to the EU”, he added.
“We don't agree with the spirit of sanctions against Russia, which has negative results not only foragriculture, as far as our own country's economy is concerned, but also in general”, said on Wednesday 28 Januarythe new Greek deputy Foreign Minister, NikosHountis.
In an interview to the Athens and Macedonian News Agency, he also said that “Our objections on the issue will presented at the Foreign Minister's Council the Greek foreign Minister,NikosKotzias”.
“Other countries have similar reactions, because of the consequences of the sanctions” he added.
Referring to yesterday's Statement of Heads of State and Government of the EU that provoked a strong reaction from Athens, he noted that “there is a rush by certain Members States and this was expressed through that statement about which Greece expressed its displeasure.”
The new Greek foreign minister,NikosKotzias, might block new sanctions on Russia at the Council in Brussels.Kotziasis a professor ofEuropean Studies, aformer member of the Greek CommunistParty and a well-known friend of Russia. In the past he spoke against what he calls a "German-dominated Europe" and, in the1980s, he praised the Polish government's crackdown on the Solidarity movement.
As soon as he became foreign minister, on 27 January, he accused the outgoing minister, EvangelosVenizelos, president of PASOK, of having let Brussels use Greece’s debt in order to force Athens to align itself with the rest of the EU.
Sympathy for Russia runs deep through the Greek psyche, and many politicians, as well as part of the population, hope that Moscow would come to the rescue financially, as it tried to do with Cyprus in 2012.
The present dispute started after theEuropean Council president Donald Tusk said that in the January 29 meeting of foreign ministers "further restrictive measures" against Russia should be considered.Donald Tuskcomes from the Polish Solidarity movement, which makes him the ideological opposite of some of the people forming the present Greek government.Also, Tusk has anuncompromising stance against Russia,which was seen as a salutary counterbalance to the softer attitude ofFedericaMogherini, the chief of the EU’s diplomacy, but which might foresee further clashes with Athens.
CarlBildt, the Swedish foreign minister and former EU Commissioner tweeted this about his new Greek colleague: