Brussels prepared to introduce sanctions against Turkey on Monday over unauthorized oil drilling off the coast of Cyprus in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The legal framework for “restrictive measures” adopted by EU foreign ministers at a Council meeting in Brussels will allow the bloc to sanction individuals or entities responsible for, or involved in, the drilling activities.
The framework was discussed by EU ambassadors on Wednesday last week but according to several diplomats the Hungarian representative said that he could not agree to the measures without first receiving the green light from Budapest, where on Thursday the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán met the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
The sanctions will consist of a travel ban to the EU and an asset freeze for persons and entities such as companies involved in the drilling. In addition, EU persons and entities will be forbidden from making funds available to those on the list.
EU foreign ministers agreed in principle to launch this framework at a meeting last month in solidarity with Cyprus. That decision was supported by EU leaders a few days after.
The 36-page document on the legal framework discussed by EU ambassadors last week, and seen by POLITICO, contains two empty annexes for the list of persons and entities hit by the sanctions. Among the items still undecided in the document was whether to refer to “illegal” or “unauthorised” drilling activities.
According to one EU diplomat present at the meeting it will take approximately two weeks to compile the list.