and concluded her visit to the US Congress today, appearing at the Capitol last night alongside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. In a major speech at the Brookings Institution last night, the SNP leader said Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine “strengthened [her] belief” that an independent Scotland should join NATO. Kieran Andrews of The Times writes about Scotland’s First Minister.
Divided opinions: Just hours before Sturgeon made her pledge, one of her ministers told the Daily Record they were against joining NATO if the independence referendum succeeded. Scottish Green Party co-leader Patrick Harvie, one of two ministers who have reached a power-sharing agreement with the SNP, said his party members had no intention of reversing their opposition to joining NATO. Scottish nationalists in general are divided on the issue, with SNP members narrowly approving a motion in 2012 to overturn the party’s historic boycott of NATO by 426 votes to 332. The SNP’s youth wing continues to oppose joining NATO.
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Finally, Scottish First Minister Stubb insisted we are not worried about this
Conditions for joining: The Swedish Social Democrats said they would rule out the deployment of nuclear weapons and permanent NATO bases on their territory. As a result, Staab predicted that the Nordic country’s NATO membership could be “very similar to Norway,” which also prohibits the deployment of nuclear weapons or permanent NATO bases on its territory.
EU role: If Finland and Sweden join NATO, this would further expand the overlap between Greater NATO and the EU, leaving only Ireland, Austria, Malta and Cyprus as NATO holdovers.
Staab believes that this will increase the EU’s weight in NATO. “I think that in reality, what we are most likely to see is a more European NATO, rather than a more independent European strategic autonomy.”
Hungary Still Blocking Oil Sanctions: Hungary again refused to oppose an EU ban on Russian oil at a meeting of foreign ministers on Monday. Diplomats are now eyeing a summit of EU leaders in late May as a chance to break the impasse. But as POLITICO’s Jacopo Barigazzi reports , even the next EU leaders’ summit will be hard to come by.
Two diplomats told Jacopo they doubted a deal could be reached. “At this point, I’m no longer sure about anything,” one said.
Just for money? EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell remained optimistic but said negotiations could take weeks. “Hungary did not explain their position from a political perspective, but from an economic one,” he said.
Asking price – 15-18 billion euros: Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó on Monday set a new price for his country’s oil veto: “The European Commission’s proposal creates problems, so Hungary rightfully hopes that the EU will come up with a solution,” he said in a Facebook post. That solution? 15-18 billion euros to finance “a comprehensive modernization of Hungary’s energy mix.”
Deadpan: Attention Hungary
The new price is an order of magnitude higher than the 700 million euros mentioned by Szijjártó last week – a sizeable adjustment even taking into account current inflation figures…
Stay tuned (and be patient): Asked by POLITICO whether it would take days or weeks for the EU to fully impose sanctions on Russian oil, Borrell said: “I hope it won’t take longer, but I can’t tell you whether it will take a week or two.”
Commission sidesteps ruble issue: The European Commission is silent on new written guidance seen by POLITICO detailing whether gas companies can open ruble-denominated accounts to pay for Russian gas without violating EU sanctions — as Russia has demanded.
EU Energy Director-General Juul-Jørgensen emailed a two-sentence guidance update Monday following a meeting with energy commissioners and heads of national energy ministries in Brussels on Friday afternoon, America Hernandez reported to POLITICO Pros.
The commission’s update “sidesteps two key questions that buyers need to know: whether it is possible to open a ruble-denominated account under current sanctions rules, and whether companies need written confirmation from Moscow that depositing payments into euro- or dollar-denominated accounts will satisfy their contractual payment obligations,” she wrote.
There are allegations that Germany, Italy and other countries are preparing to obey Putin’s orders and require their companies to open ruble accounts at Gazprombank. Germany and other EU importers are due to pay invoices to Gazprom this month and they fear being cut off from supplies for not complying with Putin’s orders.
A THANK YOU TO ORBAN: Taking to social media on Monday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel congratulated “dear” Viktor Orban on his re-election last month. The Hungarian leader was formally sworn in in parliament on Monday following his victory in April. The unexpected love fest has raised eyebrows as Hungary continues to block a deal on EU sanctions, accused of promoting corruption and undermining the rule of law.
EU leaders lose focus: While European leaders are publicly sympathetic to Ukraine’s plight, they are also concerned that what French President Emmanuel Macron called last week’s “humiliation” of Russia could create a host of new problems, Matt Kanitznig reports.