Sanctions hurt Europe more than they hurt Russia, remarked Péter Szijjártó.Continue reading
A Hungarian government official sharply criticized the European Union’s policies regarding Russia. According to State Secretary Csaba Dömötör, EU sanctions are hurting Europe’s economy, not Russia’s.
“Sanctions are having a big impact, just not where they should. EU sanctions are not putting an increasingly heavy burden on the country that started the war, but on Europe and the European economy,” Csaba Dömötör, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister, told public radio on Sunday.
According to Dömötör, the EU’s sanctions against Russia do not serve their intended purpose, but hurt Europe itself. “There is not a single person in Europe who does not feel the inflationary impact of a botched sanctions policy in some form, from higher utility bills, to transport, or agriculture,” he warned. The sanctions policy is not the “magic bullet,” but a form of economic “self-mutilation,” the State Secretary added.
While Europe’s economy is in sharp decline, unemployment is rising, and the euro is steadily weakening against the dollar, Russia is experiencing a smaller-than-expected economic slowdown and is running the second largest balance of payments surplus in the world, he pointed out.
“The EU is dependent on Russian gas supplies, but instead of changing course, it wants to implement a range of measures, like placing a price cap on Russian gas supplies, which would be a sanction disguised as a trade regulation, and would carry the serious risk that Russia could stop gas supplies,” Dömötör warned, adding that if this happens, “there will be nothing to put a price cap on.”
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