The EU is weighing a shift from its comprehensive sanctions packages to smaller, more targeted measures, either adopted individually or grouped by theme. The goal: stop letting one country hold the entire bloc hostage during negotiations.

What happened with Greece

Greece blocked the EU’s 21st sanctions package around June 9, 2026. The reason was straightforward: Athens wanted to protect its shipping firms, particularly Dynagas, from a proposed ban on transporting Russian liquefied natural gas to non-EU countries set to take effect in January 2027.

EU ambassadors approved a compromised version on July 23, 2026. That compromise gave Greece an exemption for its LNG shipping operations while keeping other elements of the package intact.

Those remaining elements included restrictions on banks, cryptocurrency networks, and military entities. But the final product was significantly less stringent than what had originally been proposed.

The unanimity problem

EU sanctions require unanimous approval from all member states. That means any country, regardless of size, can effectively veto the entire package.

The proposed solution is to make the packages smaller. Instead of bundling dozens of sanctions measures into one take-it-or-leave-it package, Brussels would break them into individual actions or small thematic groups. A country that objects to shipping restrictions wouldn’t be able to block unrelated measures targeting military supply chains or financial networks.

This represents the first substantial rethinking of the EU’s sanctions architecture since the invasion began in 2022.

Why crypto markets should pay attention

Buried in the compromised 21st package were restrictions targeting cryptocurrency networks. Under a thematic approach, sanctions targeting digital asset networks could be introduced as standalone measures, requiring their own vote but not vulnerable to unrelated objections from shipping-dependent nations.

Greece’s successful carve-out for Dynagas signals that member states with significant economic stakes in specific sectors can still extract concessions. If one sector can negotiate its way out of restrictions, crypto industry lobbyists in Brussels will almost certainly try to do the same. Whether they have the same political leverage as Greek shipping magnates is another question entirely.