The Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe TD, 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 on a joint commitment to finalise and implement a comprehensive prohibition of services that 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 continuous flow of oil but at a price that 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.
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 hold Russia accountable for its unprovoked aggression.
The initial price cap will be based on a range of technical inputs and the price level will be revisited as necessary, said the ministers.
“We aim to align implementation with the timeline of related measures within the EU´s sixth sanctions package,” they added.