Belgium abstained during the vote this morning on the new European Union sanctions package once morest Russia, fearing the consequences of the measures affecting the steel sector, confirmed Thursday evening Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, on the sidelines of a meeting of the European Political Community in Prague.
While European heads of state and government converged on the Czech capital, the eighth set of sanctions once morest Russia was validated in the morning in Brussels. It sanctions the holding of referendums for the annexation of four regions of Ukraine, illegal in the eyes of the West, as well as the escalation of tensions. In particular, it provides for trade bans on Russian steel.
Belgium opted to abstain.
The question is how we can maintain the solidarity of European countries and our people to continue to support Ukraine. Certainly, the military successes garnered by Ukraine help (…), but if the economic cost becomes so high and people lose their jobs, it will become difficult.
Alexander De Croo
Belgium, however, refuses the blocking, because “we do not want to break European solidarity“, he added.
