Corrected: EU consumers may eventually suffer from EU sanctions policy to even greater extent than Russian consumers - Europarl member
(correct headline in news item issued at 4:02 p.m.)
BRUSSELS. Dec 13 (Interfax) - Although the exact losses resulting from the mutual sanctions of the European Union and Russia have not been calculated, European business people have said more than once that the sanctions policy has been causing major damage to them, Jiri Mastalka, a Czech member of the European Parliament's European United Left-Nordic Green Left party group and deputy chairman of the European Parliament's Delegation to the Russia-EU Parliamentary Cooperation Committee, has said.
"And the result for the European Union is the following: by our conduct, we are constantly pushing Russia towards the east," Mastalka told Interfax in Brussels.
"I understand that there are historical ties and contacts in that direction as well. But it is also clear that they will develop in a far more vigorous manner if the European Union continues to pursue such a policy. In my opinion, consumers in the European Union will suffer from this to an even greater extent than [consumers] in Russia," he said.
When speaking about the mutual blacklists, Mastalka said that he had always tried to make sure that contacts would not be broken off under any circumstances.
"And I said to my Russian friends: "I understand that this is not your fault, that it was not you who started these 'blacklists'. But, still, someone has to take the first step forward and extend a hand!"," the European Parliament member said.
Mastalka, however, agreed this "does not rule out that this hand may be slapped upon."
"Indeed, such a risk exists. But an even bigger risk is that this situation will continue. I know that a number of leaders and representatives of the State Duma are ready to come here, and they perfectly realize that it will be difficult to speak here. But, nevertheless, even anticipating all this, they have expressed their readiness to come here and launch this dialogue," Mastalka said.
"It is also striking that the European Parliament has made the already damaging sanctions even tougher. It is not clear why European Parliament President Martin Schulz adopted additional strict measures with regard to employees of Russia's permanent representative office at the European Union, restricting their access to the European Parliament. This simply does not make any sense. In my opinion, rather, a rationally thinking politician, especially if he heads an international parliament, should still keep if not the gates then at least the door open," he said.
Mastalka said he is confident that sanctions have not done any good.
"They are going to once again extend them [sanctions], it seems to me, for [another] six months. They are linking everything with the Minsk agreements. But we have now seen that Ukraine has been sidelined even in Western media. But here again approaches the date for lifting or extending the sanctions, and the focus once again shifts towards Ukraine because [the authorities] in Kyiv have also probably started to understand that they are already in third or fourth places because the migrants and the war in the Middle East have moved to the forefront. Money is being redistributed, and if it goes to the Middle East, in this case Ukraine will be left only with slogans and a blue flag with stars," Mastalka said.
Removing the obstacles to normal communication between parliamentarians of the two sides should become the first step, while the second step, a more effective one, should be the mutual lifting of economic sanctions, he said.
"Pragmatic politicians in the European Union should be aware of that, also bearing in mind economic consideration. But there is still time left because all those who are at least a little familiar with objective data understand that Russia in 2015 is not the Russia that was under Mr. Boris Yeltsin, with all due respect to him. And if anyone remains stuck in the political age of the 1990s, he has no right to manage European affairs in 2015-2016," he said.
The full version of Mastalka's interview will be published on the www.interfax.ru website.