EU leaders warn of possible sanctions against Russia as summit opens

The leaders of the European Union warned of possible political and economic sanctions against Russia if it attacks Ukraine at the start of a European summit at which Russia's military build-up on its border with that country will be discussed.

In addition, the EU-27 meeting will discuss Belarus's sending of migrants to the EU, which they see as a hybrid attack.

During their last meeting of the year, the EU heads of state and government will also discuss the progress of the Omicron variant and the coordination of restrictions to curb it, as well as the rise in energy prices on the continent and the economic situation in the eurozone.

The Latvian Prime Minister, Krisjanis Karins, considered that the EU "should consider a wide range of sanctions" in order to dissuade Russia from attacking Ukraine, something that "could now best be achieved with clear and painful economic sanctions on Russia if the escalation continues".

Speaking on arrival at the meeting, Karins advocated including among the possible sanctions not opening the Nordstream 2 gas pipeline, which links Russia directly to Germany without passing through Ukraine, since Moscow is using it "as blackmail against the EU" and to "harm the Ukrainian government".

In the same vein, Lithuanian Prime Minister Gitanas Nauseda said that the EU has "enough tools" to dissuade Russia from aggression, starting with "economic and sectoral sanctions", and must do "everything in its power" to avoid the "worst case scenario" of military intervention in Ukraine, "which unfortunately we cannot exclude".

The Baltic region, he said, faces its most "dangerous" situation in 30 years, also because of the actions of Alexander Lukashenko's regime.

Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa said there could be "open channels for serious negotiations in the coming days perhaps in the Normandy format", which brings Ukraine and Russia together with France and Germany as mediators, but that if diplomacy does not work sanctions "are on the table".

It is not expected, however, that the leaders will agree on concrete sanctions at Thursday's meeting, which the EU authorities have been working on for weeks to have ready if the time comes to use them.

EU diplomacy chief Josep Borrell said that a "broad package" of sanctions is being prepared and will be discussed with leaders today, and reiterated that "any aggressive action will have a higher political and economic price" for Russia.

The leaders will also discuss the coordination of containment measures in the face of the spread of the Omicron variant in the run-up to Christmas, which has already led Italy to unilaterally decide to require a negative PCR test for EU citizens wishing to travel to its territory, even if they are vaccinated.

"What we know about Omicron is quite worrying," said Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who stressed that the response now is the "acceleration" of vaccination and, in particular, the administration of booster doses."

"If we need to take additional measures on additional testing I think it just has to be applied at Christmas so that we gain additional time to give booster doses to as many people as we can," he said on his arrival at the meeting.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez also said that "the key" in the face of the rising incidence of the virus is to "continue with vaccination" and "continue with the booster doses that we need for all generations to continue to be immunised".

"This is going to be the position of the Spanish government. It will also recognise the work being done by African countries in sequencing, in transparency, in sharing this information with the rest of the international community in the face of new variants such as Omicron".

Of particular interest to Spain will be the debate on rising energy prices, after the European Commission yesterday opened the door to joint gas purchases in emergency situations.

Sánchez considered that "it is good news, but it is insufficient" and stressed that it is "essential that the EU takes measures, and that it takes them much more internally and much more quickly".