Serbia Welcomes EU Delay to Decision on Russian Oil Ban Exemption

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic attends the Meeting of the European Political Community in Prague, Czech Republic, October 6 2022. Photo: EPA-EFE/MARTIN DIVISEK

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic confirmed on Thursday that the European Commission had postponed a decision on exempting Western Balkan countries from the EU ban on imports of Russian crude oil.

“We haven’t solved the problem, but it’s not bad news that the decision has been moved, postponed for some time,” Vucic told media in Prague after the first meeting of newly established European Political Community.

He said the decision about Balkan countries being excluded from the EU sanctions package from June was withdrawn on the initiative of Croatia.

“Yesterday at that [EU] meeting, when everything should have already passed, on the initiative of Croatia and supported by two countries … the derogation from the norm for the Western Balkans was removed from the agenda”, Vucic said.

On arrival at the Prague meeting, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic told media that “this is not our position, it is the position of European Union”.

“Every country that comes here, at this event, at this point of time of European history should respect the sanctions regime against Russia and show solidarity with Ukraine,” Plenkovic said.

“Serbia can any time import any oil, except from Russia, bring it to the Croatian port of Krk than send it through our pipeline system to Serbia,” he added.

Vucic thanked Hungary, Greece and Bulgaria for supporting Serbia in this matter.

Hungary’s pro-Russian Prime Minister, Victor Orban, has always opposed sanctions on Russia. He said later on Facebook that, “sanctions did not fulfill the hopes attached to them, the war [in Ukraine] did not end. Europe is slowly bleeding, and Russia is making good money in the meantime”.

“It is clear that the failed Brussels sanctions policy must be changed,” Orban said.

Serbia Was Preparing for Russian Oil Import Ban

NIS Offices in Belgrade, Serbia. Photo: BIRN

Serbian Energy minister Zorana Mihajlovic told Serbian media on Thursday that an intention to ban Russian oil import and make it impossible for Serbia to import it was “clear already in May”.

“The oil industry of Serbia has been preparing for this for months, so they will import only non-Russian oil, 80 per cent, and 20 per cent will be Serbian oil,” she told media.

Mihajlovic explained that, after invasion in Ukraine, Russian oil become cheaper, so NIS increased its imports but that, in general, imports of oil of any origin depended on the price.

In June, in its sixth package, the EU imposed an embargo on imports of crude oil and refined oil products from Russia. It also prohibited EU operators from “insuring and financing the transport, in particular through maritime routes, of oil to third countries” after a grace period of six months, which is about to expire.

These sanctions have some exceptions and delayed deadlines, however, for countries like Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic and Hungary.

This package also hit Serbia, since the crude oil it imports arrives by sea via the Croatian oil pipeline operator, Jadranski naftovod’s JANAF, pipeline. Most oil in Serbia comes in origin from Iraq, Kazakhstan and Russia.

According to Serbia’s Energy Balance for 2022 it is expected that domestic production of crude oil covers some 20 per cent of the country’s needs.

The only company that handles oil production and imports in Serbia is Oil Industry of Serbia, NIS, which is majority-owned by two Russian energy companies.

Vucic himself in June confirmed that, “we no longer have the right to import Russian oil”.

“We no longer have the right to import Russian oil, according to the currently valid sanctions, and God knows what sanctions will be introduced by then”, Vucic told media in Belgrade on June 14.