Irish Presidency of the Council of the European Union
The Irish Presidency of the Council of the EU is Ireland's rotating six-month presidency of the Council of the European Union. During its term it sets the agenda for Council work, chairs its meetings and represents the Council in relations with the other EU institutions. Ireland has held the presidency in 2004, 2008 and 2013.
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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.