Committee of Permanent Representatives
The Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper) is a body of the Council of the European Union composed of the heads of each EU member state's permanent representation to the Union. It prepares the work of the Council, coordinates the positions of member states at ambassadorial level below ministerial meetings, and can take certain procedural and technical decisions on the Council's behalf. Coreper meets in two formations: Coreper II, consisting of ambassadors, and Coreper I, consisting of deputy permanent representatives.
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EU Coreper fails to extend Russia sanctions as Slovakia and France push to delist oligarchs
EU ambassadors meeting on 21 September failed to reach consensus on extending the bloc's individual sanctions regime against Russia, which covers roughly 3,000 individuals and entities including Vladimir Putin. Slovakia and France insisted on delisting sanctioned oligarchs Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman; a compromise deal that would have extended the regime for 36 months in exchange for delisting them collapsed after Latvia blocked it. Coreper scheduled a further meeting for the morning of 22 September, hours before the midnight deadline at which the entire regime would lapse without unanimous renewal. Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha publicly called any delisting unacceptable and a wrong signal to Moscow.