The new head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Lyayen, said that the European Union should retain sanctions against Russia. She expressed this view in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica.
“We, speaking from a position of strength, should maintain the existing sanctions and at the same time continue to offer dialogue,” said von der Leyen.
According to her, the Kremlin “does not forgive weakness” and allegedly conducts hostile activities towards the EU.
“Examples range from violations of international norms - like the annexation of the Crimea - to work with the goal of maximally separating Europe,” the European politician states.
Also, according to von der Lyayen, to counteract Russia, Europeans need to fight “disinformation” and “fake news”.
As Reuters reported, citing another recent interview with von der Lyayen (the German edition of Bild), a European politician, commenting on the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, spoke of the "danger of over-dependence on Russian energy supplies." In addition, the elected head of the European Commission spoke in favor of maintaining close, friendly relations with the United States.
On July 16, the European Parliament approved the ex-Minister of Defense of Germany, Ursula von der Lyayen, as head of the European Commission. From November 1, she will replace Jean-Claude Juncker in this position.
“Leave all charges”
Von der Lyayen, who previously held the post of head of the German Defense Ministry, has repeatedly acted with criticism of Russia.
So, last year, her statement about the need to talk to Moscow from a position of strength was criticized by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. Then the head of the Russian military department advised the German colleague to “ask his grandfathers” what this dialogue with Moscow could turn into.
In a formal greeting, von der Läijen on the occasion of her election as head of the EC, Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed the hope that the "rich political experience and international authority" of the former German Defense Minister "will contribute to the constructive work of the European Commission, and will also restore an equal and mutually beneficial partnership between the EU and Russia ".
In turn, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, on the margins of the Russian-German forum Petersburg Dialogue, said that in relations with the elected head of the EC, Russia seeks to focus on “not public statements, but practical matters.”
Earlier, Andrei Kelin, director of the department for pan-European cooperation of the Russian Foreign Ministry, stressed that Russian-European relations had “degraded” over the past month.
As noted by Konstantin Sofronov, researcher at the Institute of World History, RAS, in an interview with RT, the position of von der Lyayen on the need to maintain anti-Russian sanctions reflects the point of view of the German establishment, which is not in a hurry to remove restrictive measures, although it periodically indicates the need to establish a dialogue with Moscow.
The Director of the Foundation for Progressive Politics, Oleg Bondarenko, said in a conversation with RT that, in the position of von der Lyayen, the personal factor also plays a certain role, but to a greater degree, in his opinion, the statements of the politician reflect the views of the Brussels European bureaucracy.
“It continues the course followed by the previous European Commission,” Bondarenko said in a conversation with RT. “It only says that the task of the European elites is“ leaving - not to leave ”, to leave all the charges against Russia and the restriction mechanisms in place.
In early July, the leaders of the EU countries agreed on the candidacies of new leaders of key European bodies, which should be updated following the May elections to the European Parliament. It should be noted that Ursula von der Lyayen is not the only representative of the new EU leadership who adheres to anti-Russian rhetoric.
- European Commission Building
- Reuters
- © Yves Herman
Thus, the head of the Spanish Foreign Ministry, Joseph Borrel, who was elected to the post of head of European diplomacy, in May of this year, called Russia an “old enemy”. And the new speaker of the European Parliament, the Italian David-Maria Sassoli, said at the beginning of July that the EU sanctions policy towards Russia would not change.
“People chosen for the posts of European institutions inherit the policies of their predecessors,” Oleg Bondarenko said. “That's what they were chosen for.” Therefore, the speaker of the European Parliament, for example, was not Bulgarian Sergei Stanishev, a former citizen of the USSR, but an Italian journalist who had never been famous for anything. He was appointed only on the grounds that he was ready to continue the line of anti-Russian sanctions. ”
Recall that one of the main contenders for the post of EP Chairman was the former Prime Minister of Bulgaria, Sergei Stanishev, who was in favor of normalizing relations with Russia. He was recommended for this post by the EU Leaders Summit. However, on July 7, the Italian socialist Sassoli was elected speaker.
“Policy change is possible”
Many European politicians have repeatedly called for the normalization of relations with Russia and even for the lifting of sanctions. So, one of these days, Prime Minister of the State of Saxony, Michael Kretschmer, spoke in favor of repealing the restrictive measures against Russia. Earlier, a similar initiative was made by his colleague from Mecklenburg - Western Pomerania, Manuel Schwezig.
- Workers at the Siemens Turbomachinery Equipment GmbH in Leipzig (Saxony)
- globallookpress.com
- © Hendrik Schmidt / dpa
As the German media reported on July 17, citing data from the Eastern Committee of the German economy, Germany has lost hundreds of billions of euros from the sanctions confrontation with Russia over the past five years. The lands of the former GDR were particularly affected: for example, in Saxony the trade turnover with Russia decreased by 72.5%, and in Thuringia - by 19.9%.
Also the other day, the ineffectiveness of anti-Russian sanctions was announced by Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Siyarto. According to him, Budapest has lost about € 8 billion due to sanctions.
The need for the abolition of anti-Russian restrictive measures speak in Italy. In particular, on July 4, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, at a meeting with Vladimir Putin, said that Rome would work on removing the restrictions. In turn, the deputy head of the Italian government, Matteo Salvini, called the EU sanctions "insane." French Prime Minister Edouard Philip announced at the talks with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev in June about the possibility of abolishing restrictive measures against Moscow.
As Konstantin Sofronov notes, the anti-Russian sanctions of the US and the EU have not reached their goal.
“Russia has shown on the foreign policy arena that it retains its military potential, successfully retooling. “A serious deterioration in the situation in which Moscow would have been forced to turn to the West for economic assistance also did not happen,” Sofronov said. - Moreover, the war in Syria has demonstrated that Russia is quite active. She has a choice. It can negotiate with Turkey, with Iran and other states, and look for other political partners in return for those European countries that have joined the anti-Russian sanctions. ”
According to Oleg Bondarenko, the new EU leadership, represented by von der Lyayen, neglects the increasing demands for the abolition of anti-Russian sanctions.
“Europe has undergone certain changes in these five years. And the fact that the European elites do not want to notice this does not characterize them from the positive side. So they undermine their own legitimacy in the eyes of the European voter, ”the political analyst states.
According to Konstantin Sofronov, “The EU can change its opinion and refuse sanctions against Moscow only if the US foreign policy agenda changes.” However, the expert believes that such a scenario is unlikely.
Meanwhile, Oleg Bondarenko believes that in the EU countries there is a serious domestic political potential for changing relations with Russia.
“The revision of the policy towards Moscow is possible as a result of elections in the main EU member states in the next year or two,” says Bondarenko. “For example, a lot depends on Germany, and there the situation will obviously change after the departure of Angela Merkel.”