The EU permanent representatives are to discuss, on 18 July, the European Commission’s proposals for a new package of sanctions against Russia. The package introduces a new import ban on Russian gold, while reinforcing the EU’s dual use and advanced technology export controls. The list of natural and legal persons subject to financial sanctions who are banned from travelling to the EU is also being extended.

“Sanctions require strategic patience because it may take a long time for them to have the desired effect,” Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission wrote in his blog.

German chancellor Olaf Scholz stated, in an article for Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper that Russia's war in Ukraine has made European unity more urgent and raised the need for an end to “selfish blockades” of European decisions by individual states. “We simply can no longer afford national vetoes, for example in foreign policy, if we want to continue to be heard in a world of competing great powers,” Olaf Scholz stated, and urged Germans to prepare for further difficulties due to sanctions against Russia, as it is necessary to stop the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin “with its neo-colonial” course.