No unity in EU over sanctions, some states protest (Poland PM, Donald Tusk)

The European Union has split over new sanctions against Russia because of strong resistance on the part of some member countries, Poland Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Friday.

Asked about the possibility of an extraordinary EU summit on sanctions, he said there should be first a guarantee the summit could yield results. If some European countries blocked sharper sanctions, it would be more than shameful, Tusk said. Therefore, the work behind the scenes was now underway to make sure such a summit would succeed in adopting tougher sanctions.


Poland, he added, advocated EU unity on the sanctions issue, saying European weak sanctions were better than some radical steps. One European country had no chances in the confrontation with Russia, Polish Prime Minister said.

Speaking of consequences for Polish companies in case of a response, Tusk said Poland had repeatedly gone through critical situations in trade relations with Russia, which were quickly resolved.

It made no sense to estimate the losses as nobody could predict what would happen if Russia stopped gas supplies, Tusk said. Sanctions would certainly come at a cost, he said, but they were necessary to avoid larger losses and a worse scenario, namely Ukraine’s decline.
http://en.itar-tass.com/world/742319
25/7/14
--
-
Related:

• EU approves new sanctions against Russia, but not sectoral ones...
• 
  
• EU reaches preliminary deal on Russia economic sanctions.....

• L’Italie insiste sur de nouvelles sanctions contre la Russie

• Μόσχα: Οι κυρώσεις των ΗΠΑ παραβιάζουν τους κανόνες του Παγκόσμιου Οργανισμού Εμπορίου

-----

• Putin warns of attempts to destabilize Russia (National Security Council meeting)