Europe close to approving SWIFT, but Germany remains wary

European Parliament President David Sassoli speaks prior to a signing ceremony of EU Legislative Priorities for 2022 on the sidelines of an EU Summit in Brussels, on Dec. 16, 2021. Sassoli has died at a hospital in Italy, his spokesman said in a tweet Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert, Pool, File) (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert, Pool, File) In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivers his speech addressing the nation in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Feb. 25, 2022. Russian troops bore down on Ukraine's capital Friday, with explosions and gunfire sounding in the city as the invasion of a democratic country fueled fears of wider war in Europe and triggered new international efforts — including direct sanctions on President Vladimir Putin — to make Moscow stop. ( (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)) German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, right, and Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General, meet for bilateral talks at the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022.  ((Sven Hoppe/Pool via AP)) FILE - Viktor Orban waves after his annual state of the nation speech in Varkert Bazaar conference hall of Budapest, Hungary, Feb. 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Anna Szilagyi, File)

Foreign ministers of the Baltic States and Poland wanted to cut Russia from SWIFT as part of the initial wave of sanctions, but Germany, Italy, Hungary and Cyprus resisted the move.