Press. voanews.com
European
Union leaders meeting Thursday in Brussels agreed to extend sanctions on Russia
for another six months, EU officials said. The one-day summit, which ran late
into the evening, capped a turbulent year for the 28-member group as questions
loom over the integrity and future of the organization.
The
decision to extend sanctions on Russia came as no surprise. German Chancellor
Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande said this week that they
would support extending sanctions in light of Russia's failure to abide by the
Minsk agreements on Ukraine.
The
decision, to be announced officially in the next few days, came despite growing
pressure among investors and energy interests in Europe, including within
Germany itself, for sanctions to be rolled back.
Analysts
said the poor momentum for continued actions to punish Russia had been spurred
on by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's stated willingness to work more
closely with Russia to resolve conflicts and combat terrorism.
Analysts
had said the EU would be unlikely to announce any new sanctions against Moscow
over Syria, but EU leaders Thursday strongly condemned the Syrian government's
Russian-backed assault on parts of Aleppo and called for a halt to the
violence.
"I
have been talking constantly to Russia, and Russia makes commitments that it is
not keeping. Now it is time for us to conclude a cease-fire," Hollande
told reporters. Among the top challenges
looming over the gathering in Brussels was Britain's decision last June to
leave the EU.
British
Prime Minister Theresa May was not invited to attend a dinner late Thursday,
where an informal discussion on Brexit was on the agenda. May's exclusion from
the dinner was one of the first visible signs of the reality that Britain, the
EU's second-largest economy, will soon no longer be a part of the bloc. In a
statement, May's spokesman downplayed what some observers interpreted as a slight
against the British leader.
"The
fact there is a meeting of the 27 reflects that we are leaving the European
Union and, as we embark on that process, we have been very clear that while the
U.K. needs to prepare for the negotiations, so, too, do the EU 27. Obviously, a
meeting in that format on Thursday evening will give them an opportunity to
discuss their approach," the spokesman said.
A
contentious issue at this meeting was the Netherlands' stance on Ukraine. Dutch
voters in April turned down an agreement between the EU and Ukraine to
strengthen political and economic ties between Brussels and Kyiv, a deal that
many interpret as a first step toward EU membership. EU leaders approved a
statement reassuring Dutch voters that the deal would not lead to EU membership
for Ukraine.
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