Jonah Redfern 
The European Union's twenty-first sanctions package against Russia cleared its decisive political hurdle on 23 July not by overriding the last objection but by accommodating it. Ambassadors of the member states, meeting as the Committee of Permanent Representatives ("COREPER"), signed off on the package after Greece dropped the veto it had been holding, per Politico and Euronews. The price of consensus: Greek-operated tankers may keep carrying Russian liquefied natural gas ("LNG") to buyers outside the bloc.
What the ambassadors agreed
Two elements did the work. First, the Greek carve-out: the deal grants Greece an exemption to continue shipping Russian LNG to non-EU clients for the foreseeable future, Euronews reports. Second, the bloc froze its price cap on Russian crude oil for 12 months, according to Politico. Euractiv characterised the outcome as 'watered-down' sanctions agreed amid Greek resistance.
Why one capital could hold up twenty-six others
EU sanctions are not ordinary legislation. They are "restrictive measures" adopted under the Common Foreign and Security Policy, where the Council of the EU decides by unanimity (generally under Article 29 of the Treaty on European Union, with the economic elements implemented under Article 215 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU). Unanimity means each of the twenty-seven governments holds an effective veto. That is the lever Greece pulled — and the reason a single member state's commercial interest can reshape a package aimed at Moscow.
COREPER prepares the Council's decisions; agreement at ambassador level signals the political deal is sealed. But the measures generally become binding law only once the Council formally adopts them — typically without further debate — and the implementing regulation is published in the EU's Official Journal. Until then, the reported terms are an agreement, not yet enforceable text.
What this means if you…
- …move Russian LNG by sea: the reported exemption covers Greek shipments to non-EU clients, but its exact scope, conditions and duration will only be knowable from the published wording, not from the headlines.
- …trade Russian crude under the price cap: the cap is reported frozen for 12 months, so the threshold is held in place rather than tightened — the mechanism stays, but its number does not move for now.
- …are counting on the LNG restrictions holding: Bloomberg reports the bloc is already weighing options to keep its new LNG sanctions alive, a sign the measures are contested even as they are adopted.
The bigger picture
This is the twenty-first package since 2022, and each has run the same gauntlet: unanimity hands every capital a veto, and every capital has learned to use it. Hungary was long the habitual holdout; a Kyiv Post headline notes that even with Orbán "gone" from the equation, the sanctions fight continues — this time the resistance came from Athens.
Hypothesis: the Greek carve-out becomes a template, letting any member state with a specific commercial exposure trade its consent for a national exemption. Supporting this: Greece extracted exactly such a deal here, and the price-cap freeze suggests the wider package was trimmed to secure agreement. Against this: the exemption and the freeze may be one-off answers to this package's particular contents, and the published legal text could narrow the carve-out considerably.
What to watch next
- Formal adoption by the Council and publication in the Official Journal — the moment the measures generally bind.
- The precise scope and duration of the Greek LNG exemption once the legal text appears.
- Whether the new LNG sanctions survive, given the bloc is reportedly already working to keep them alive.
- The status of the crude price cap when the twelve-month freeze lapses.
