The Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe TD, today (Friday) participated in a virtual meeting of G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in his capacity as the President of the Eurogroup.
The meeting focused mainly on agreeing a joint commitment to finalise and implement a comprehensive prohibition of services which enable maritime transportation of Russian-origin crude oil and petroleum products globally. This would effectively put in place a ban that applies to Russian oil shipments above a unit price (or ‘cap’). The objectives are (a) to facilitate the continued flow of oil but at a price which is beneficial to vulnerable countries and (b) to curtail Russian income from oil exports.
Today’s announcement delivers on the commitment, made by G7 Leaders at the Summit in Elmau in June, to prevent Russia from profiting from its war of aggression, and to take action to put downward pressure on prices in global energy markets.
Speaking after the meeting, Minister Donohoe said:
“Today’s announcement is a major step forward in advancing our twin goals of denying Russia revenue to fund its war of agression against Ukraine and putting downward pressure on energy prices to support consumers and the global economy, including low- and middle- income countries hit hard by the spillovers from Russia’s war. Importantly too, it will further prove that sanctions work - this will build on and strengthen the EU’s sixth sanctions package by broadening the existing maritime services ban to the entire G7”.
The G7 will now encourage all interested partners to join the price cap coalition to maximise the price cap’s impact on Russian revenue, keep energy prices down, and ultimately holding Russia accountable for its unprovoked aggression.
ENDS
NOTE:
The statement by the G7 and any related documents can be found here: https://www.bundesfinanzministerium.de/Content/EN/Standardartikel/Topics/world/G7-G20/G7-Presidency/2022-09-02-g7-ministers-statement.html
The meeting was chaired by the German Finance Minister, Christian Lindner, and the German Central Bank Governor Joachim Nagel, who jointly lead the Finance track of the G7 under the German Presidency of the G7. The G7 is an informal forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. The G7 Finance ministerial meetings are also attended by the President of the Eurogroup, the European Commission and the ECB President, on behalf of the European Union, and by the IMF, the OECD and the World Bank.