Europe facing ‘long haul’ over Russian invasion, says Taoiseach

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said that Europe must prepare for the "long haul" in opposing Russia's invasion of Ukraine, declaring that Ireland was "open to more sanctions" on Russia.

"This is a long haul," Mr Martin said on his way into the EU summit in Brussels, where leaders discussed further responses to the invasion with US president Joe Biden. "We're very clear on this in terms of the impact of this war both from a humanitarian perspective but also from an economic one, and particularly energy."

He said that EU leaders would seek to prepare for an energy crunch next winter, anticipating that sanctions against Russia would remain and may well be tougher by then. He said that EU leaders would “be looking at the energy security and energy supply issue for the autumn”.

The summit got under way on Thursday afternoon and continued into the night. The leaders will resume discussions on Friday morning.

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Describing the attack on Ukraine as a "barbaric war", Mr Martin said that it was "very clear" that Vladimir Putin "is targeting civilians and the people of Ukraine".

Asked about new sanctions, Mr Martin said: “We need the widest and strongest set of sanctions we possibly can provide to keep the pressure on Putin’s regime. But obviously there are implications for other states in respect of energy.

“Ireland is open to more sanctions,” he said, “but also to make sure that we enforce the sanctions that have been put in place.”

Unacceptable

Mr Martin criticised India, saying the position taken by the country is "unacceptable, quite frankly". India has sought to facilitate ways to work around sanctions on Russia, including by using currency swaps to enable Russian trade.

“There can be no moral equivalence around this war,” he said. “Certain countries need to get off the fence on that.” He said he would communicate this to the Indian government.

Asked if Ireland would commit to closer military co-operation with the EU, Mr Martin said that Ireland would support the “strategic compass”, an EU plan for a strengthening of the bloc’s security and defence policy over the next decade, due to be approved by the leaders at the summit.

He said that it was “an evolution of security and defence policy within the European Union”.

He said Ireland had participated in EU battlegroups and in peacekeeping and peace-enforcement missions. The EU's plan "respected our military neutrality", but added that "it makes sense that we would have a common approach to cyber-security, hybrid threats, it makes sense that there would be interoperability between difference defence forces in the European Union. We've already signed up for that.

“This is an evolution of policy,” he said.

Earlier Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, who travelled to Brussels for a meeting of EPP leaders on the margins of the summit, said that funds donated by Ireland were being used to buy supplies for the Ukrainian army, including “fuel and rations and body armour”.

“They mightn’t be weapons but they do make a difference. You know an army marches on its stomach and they need armour and they need fuel and we’re providing that.”

Technicality

Asked if this was military assistance, Mr Varadkar said: “Technically it’s not. It’s considered to be non-lethal assistance . . . But to me it is largely a technicality.”

On possible reductions in VAT on fuel, Mr Martin said there was "a bit more work to be done" on reaching agreement with the European Commission.

He said that Ireland was on “lower levels of VAT on fuel” than other countries because of an “historic derogation”. However, he said that the Government would pursue technical discussions with the European Commission which could enable the Government to pause the derogation and restore it at a later date.