Olvasási idő: 2 perc

The war in Ukraine brought the energy dependency of Europe into the light. EU countries unequivocally condemned the Russian aggression against Ukraine, until May, five packages of sanctions were adopted at light-speed. Yet, hydrocarbons remained a noticeable exception, there were rumours about cutting off Russian oil and gas has been from the beginning of the crisis but never made it to EU agenda until the European Commission proposed to target oil in the sixth package of sanctions. After weeks of negotiations and stalemate, the EU eventually adopted this package granting exceptions  to some Member States, notably, Hungary, Croatia and Slovakia. However, there is still an elephant in the room: will the EU go one step further and add the ban on Russian gas in the list of sanctions? As for oil, some Member State argue that this move would be suicidal while others support it, claiming that it will be more painful for Russia and the EU can find alternative solutions. This paper examines the potential effects of adding the ban on gas to the EU sanctions by focusing on a simple underlying question: who will suffer more, Russia or the EU should a ban on gas eventually be included in a forthcoming package of sanctions?

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