EU isn’t sanctioning Tucker Carlson over Putin interview (for now)

BRUSSELS — The European Union is not planning to sanction American far-right pundit Tucker Carlson for interviewing Russia’s President Vladimir Putin — or at least not yet.

“Currently there are no discussions in the relevant EU bodies linked to this specific person … the American person who is in Moscow,” EU Commission spokesperson for foreign affairs Peter Stano told reporters in Brussels on Thursday.

However, the spokesperson said, the EU can sanction “propagandists” who have a “track record” of manipulating information to “undermine the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and to promote the illegal and brutal aggression by Putin.”

If member countries do want to sanction Carlson (or anyone else), “they can always bring a proposal, back it up with evidence and when everyone agrees among the 27 then the decision is adopted,” Stano added.

The rebuttal from the EU’s executive comes after media reports quoting current and former members of the European Parliament calling on the EU to sanction the provocative commentator went viral on Wednesday.

Tech billionaire and X CEO Elon Musk called the reports “disturbing” if true.

“One may agree with Tucker or not, but he is a major American journalist and such an action would greatly offend the American public,” Musk said on X.

MEPs do not play any role in the EU sanctions process, which are decided by the Council of the EU following proposals from member countries or the EU’s diplomatic arm, the European External Action Service (EEAS), together with the Commission.

News of Carlson’s interview with Putin, which is due to air on the provocative commentator’s website on Thursday night, has prompted furious reactions from journalists, out of concern that it would serve to disseminate Moscow’s propaganda about its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The former Fox News anchor has opposed U.S. support to Ukraine, and mirrored the Kremlin’s talking points on the war on numerous occasions.

Yet Stano, the EU Commission’s spokesperson, said the interview’s importance could be being overstated, because “everyone knows [the] track record of Putin[‘s] remarks.”

“The only surprise might be when Putin starts to cry and say that ‘I was [a] complete failure because I failed in everything [that] I declared in February 2022, and I apologize to the Ukrainian people'” Stano said.

“Then we would thank M. Carlson for conducting this interview,” he added.