European Union member states have extended the price cap on Russian crude oil by one week to 23 July, after ambassadors failed to agree on the bloc's 21st sanctions package against Moscow. The decision, taken at a meeting of EU ambassadors in Brussels, maintains the cap at its current level of roughly $44 per barrel. Without the extension, the ceiling would have risen to $58, as an automatic adjustment clause was set to trigger.
The European Commission had proposed extending the cap for several months to allow more time for negotiations on the 21st sanctions package, which it presented in June. That package, the EU's 21st since Russia's 2022 invasion, includes restrictions on Russian fisheries such as a proposed ban on cod imports.
In a separate development, Viktor Orbán is no longer prime minister of Hungary.