Welcome to Hard Talk on the BBC World Service with me, Stephen Sacker.

My guest today is the EU Commissioner responsible for financial stability and services,

the Irish politician, Mairead McGuinness.

You wouldn't know it from her title, but she is an important player in the European Union's response

to the Russian invasion of Ukraine,

because hers is the responsibility for the enforcement of EU economic sanctions.

And since Vladimir Putin's invasion a month ago, Brussels has coordinated an unprecedented effort

to economically isolate Moscow. But for all of the high-profile

moves against Russia's financial institutions and oligarchs have those moves inflicted the

kind of pain that might force Putin to reconsider his invasion strategy. Specifically, why haven't

EU expressions of solidarity with Ukraine been backed

up by a ban on imports of Russian oil and gas, a move that would cripple the Russian economy?

Outrage at Putin's invasion runs deep across the EU, and there is enormous sympathy for the

suffering of Ukraine's civilian population.

But when it comes to taking measures that would involve real pain and political risk for Europeans,

well, is that a step too far for the EU's political leaders?

Mairead McGuinness joins me now on the line from Brussels. Welcome to Hard Talk. Thank you very much. Nice to see you.

It's a pleasure to have you on the show. Solidarity with Ukraine. That's the EU message. But of course, for it to be meaningful, it has to involve deeds as well as words. On that front, do you think the EU is delivering?

Well, look, your intro said solidarity, outrage, but you neglected the word action.

So the European Union reacted immediately. And I'm, you know, sad to say in a way,

we were preparing for this, even though we hoped it wouldn't happen. So we already had a range

of sanctions in preparation. And as you know, we've delivered on four

...