27JUL

EU's 21st sanctions package stalls again

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09:24UTC

The EU's 21st Russia sanctions package failed to clear Coreper on 15 July. Greece wants LNG re-export rights preserved; Austria wants a Deripaska-linked firm delisted.

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Key takeaway

Watch which carve-outs make the final text, not whether the twenty-first package clears.

The European Union's 21st Russia sanctions package failed to clear Coreper, the committee of member states' permanent representatives in Brussels, on 15 July, with negotiators setting a new target of 22 July rather than letting it slip to autumn ¹. Greece wants to preserve re-export rights for Russian liquefied natural gas. Austria wants Rasperia, an investment firm linked to the sanctioned aluminium magnate Oleg Deripaska, removed from the list so that frozen assets can be used to compensate Raiffeisen Bank International.

Neither objection is an argument about whether to pressure Moscow. Both are domestic commercial interests: Greek shipping's role in moving cargoes that pass through Europe rather than remaining in it, and Raiffeisen's search for compensation against its Russian exposure. Sanctions packages pass by unanimity, so a commercial interest in one member state carries the same stopping power as a strategic objection in another.

Each round of unanimity leaves its mark on the text. Holdouts extract a carve-out, the carve-out persists into later packages because reopening settled wording costs another round of unanimity, and the enforcement surface narrows even as the number on the package climbs. Brussels has been tightening on paper while Washington has been loosening in practice, most recently by letting its crude oil waiver lapse unrenewed . Whether Greece's LNG exemption and Austria's Rasperia demand survive into the final wording is the part worth watching on 22 July, not whether the package passes.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

The European Union tries to pass new rounds of sanctions against Russia as a package, and this one, the 21st since the war began, failed to get the votes it needed at a meeting in Brussels on 15 July. Two countries are blocking it for different reasons: Greece wants to keep the right to re-export Russian liquefied natural gas to other countries, and Austria wants a specific investment firm removed from the sanctions list so its frozen assets can be used to compensate an Austrian bank that lost money doing business with it. EU sanctions need every member country to agree, so either objection alone is enough to stop the whole package. A new vote is set for 22 July.

Deep Analysis

Root Causes

The package's two holdouts trace to different national exposures rather than a shared objection: Greece's shipping industry depends on revenue from re-exporting Russian LNG to third countries, while Austria's block is a compensation mechanism for Raiffeisen Bank International's frozen Russian exposure via Rasperia. Clearing the package therefore requires satisfying two unrelated national balance-sheet problems, not resolving one disputed principle.

Each objection is solvable in isolation (a carve-out for Greek re-export rights, a delisting tied to specific compensation terms for Austria), but EU sanctions require unanimity, so either holdout alone is enough to stall the whole 21st package regardless of how narrow its underlying demand is.

Sources:Global Sanctions

Mentions:Moscow →Brussels →Russian LNG →Greece →Austria →Russia →Washington →European Union →Rasperia →Oleg Deripaska →Raiffeisen →

First Reported In

Update #24 · Fedorov sacked as the front stands still

Global Sanctions· 19 Jul 2026

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Causes and effects

This Event

EU's 21st sanctions package stalls again

Two national carve-outs, neither about Russia policy, are holding an entire package.

Led to

EU clears its 21st sanctions package

The package's 23 July approval follows its failed 15 July Coreper vote.

Occurred 23 Jul 2026

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Different Perspectives

Slovakia

Slovakia says it dropped its hold-out on the 21st sanctions package only after Ursula von der Leyen personally signed written gas-price and supply guarantees. The Council of the European Union's own 17,238-character release on the package names neither Slovakia nor any guarantee, leaving Bratislava's account unconfirmed by the institutional record.

EU regulator on capacity mechanisms

Brussels is watching Germany's StromVKG first 4.5 GW capacity auction move toward its 8 September bid deadline without a resolved state-aid clearance for the 9 GW 2026 programme's gas-plant subsidies. A negative spark spread this deep on cheap gas strengthens the case for subsidised dispatchable capacity, the same case still awaiting a state-aid ruling.

French power exporters

French day-ahead cleared EUR 41.13/MWh on Sunday 26 July, EUR 43.09 below Germany, on wind more than doubling and a demand trough, not on any nuclear recovery. The desk expects the discount to hold only as long as French wind and weekend demand repeat, not as a durable nuclear-cost advantage.

European gas storage operator

A storage operator stopped bidding for prompt TTF cargoes on 21 July, reading the strike-halt unwind as the start of a fuel-side correction rather than a floor. It expects the gap between prompt and forward gas to keep narrowing as the war premium continues leaving the curve.

German gas-fired power fleet

German gas-fired plants cut output from 4.37 GW to 2.85 GW between 24 and 27 July, even as TTF fell 8 per cent, because below roughly minus EUR 40/MWh the fuel price stopped deciding dispatch. The fleet expects no relief until wind eases or StromVKG's first 4.5 GW auction adds capacity.

French industrial power consumers

France's day-ahead discount to Germany has nearly closed as TTF and EUA rise together on both sides of the border, eroding the arbitrage French industry relied on through the summer. A standing negative spark removes the German demand buffer that kept that spread wide.