The mess of European bureaucracy rarely gets the benefit of the doubt but after a plane leaving from Amsterdam full of innocent civilians was shot down in a Russian-sponsored war the market through the EU might get its act together and slap some swift sanctions on Russia.

Instead, EU leaders have walked out of meetings with pronouncements like this:

  • Russian faces more sanctions on unless it cooperates (Steinmeier)
  • We decided that the European Commission to look at a number of potential measures (Timmermans)

The most they could come up with was a few more names of individuals, which will be submitted on Thursday. The toothless response is helping risk trades.