Austrian Chancellor misses key sanctions discussion

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, who had been holding up a decision on the 12th package of sanctions against Russia, was not in the room when leaders agreed to the sanctions, three European diplomats told POLITICO.

It was a coincidence, the diplomats said, as Nehammer had left the room to speak with Commission’s President Ursula von der Leyen over Romanian and Bulgarian accession to the free-travel area of Schengen.

The start of the written procedure on the sanctions package is still unclear.

His absence was ironic given that earlier in the day, Hungary’s Viktor Orbán left the leaders’ room when they decided to open accession talks for Ukraine, unblocking the EU decision.