Emmanuel Macron waited for the end of the extraordinary summit of the European Council devoted mainly to the consequences of the war in Ukraine, meeting Monday and Tuesday in Brussels, to express himself. The French president was satisfied with the agreement reached between the Europeans to decide on new sanctions against Russia.
For Emmanuel Macron, the Brussels summit achieved its objective: to find an agreement on the sixth package of European sanctions against Russia including an embargo on around 90% of oil imports. The French president sees this as the result of a form of voluntarism:
” Two months ago, no one thought possible the sanctions on Russian oil. This is why this sixth package is historic. »
Historical, despite the exemptions enjoyed by certain States particularly dependent on Russian oil such as Hungary… whose scope Emmanuel Macron justifies and minimizes:
” The exemption measures that have been decided, they have been for states whose refineries cannot be converted too quickly and which do not have access to the sea, with a time limit of 18 to 24 month. »
Emmanuel Macron wants to see this agreement as a stage and refuses to close the door to new initiatives: “ I don’t think anything should be ruled out for the coming weeks, it all depends on the evolution of the situation on the ground. »
In parallel with the sanctions, the Europeans have also tried to find a solution to lift the blockade of Odessa and allow the export of blocked Ukrainian wheat in order to avoid the worsening of the world food crisis. Emmanuel Macron said he proposed to Vladimir Putin the vote of a United Nations resolution to give a framework to these operations and not to jeopardize the security of Ukraine… Objective: to mobilize all interlocutors to obtain guarantees from the Russia.