The European Union (EU) Commissioner for Trade and Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said that he still believed that the member nations could reach an agreement on the sixth package of the bloc’s sanctions against Russia, including a ban on oil.

Bulgaria and several other EU member states have opposed the embargo on Russian oil imports.

Key quotes

"With the first five packages [of sanctions against Russia] not all the decisions were taken immediately ... but at the end of the day all member states were able to agree and we do hope that this is going to be the case now."

"By putting sanctions on hydrocarbons, we are really getting to the heart of Kremlin's war machine financing.”

Market reaction

EUR/USD is keeping its range around 1.0540, adding 0.16% on the day.