European Union sanctions against Russia should be lifted amid the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19. This was stated by a member of the international committee of the Bundestag, a deputy from the party “Alternative for Germany” (AfD) Waldemar Gerdt, the newspaper Izvestia reports.
“The sanctions should have been lifted before this crisis. However, now that the borders are closed, this topic is even more relevant, ”the parliamentarian emphasized.
According to Gerdt, the coronavirus pandemic will hit not only the German, but also the European economy. Therefore, the restoration of trade with the Russian Federation will be useful and timely for the economies of Germany and the EU, he said. The deputy stressed that he would raise the issue of lifting anti-Russian sanctions at the next meeting of the international committee.
Gerdt’s initiative was supported by the representative of the Left party, Alexander Noah. According to him, sanctions against Russia are ineffective – especially now.
Since March 17, the borders of the European Union and the Schengen area have been closed for 30 days due to the danger of the spread of coronavirus. “All trips between non-European countries and the EU are suspended,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in an address to the nation. This decision was made jointly with other EU member states.
Against the backdrop of a new type of coronavirus pandemic, German authorities approved a € 50 billion anti-crisis plan proposed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel. It involves investment in infrastructure, tax benefits, the allocation of additional funds for families with children. The previous package of € 23 billion was criticized by the public and experts: in their opinion, the authorities allocated insufficient funds to combat the effects of the virus.
This is not the first time that Bundestag deputy from the Alternative for Germany Waldemar Gerdt has stood for constructive relations with Russia and the lifting of sanctions. In December 2019, he told Ukraina.ru that sanctions are just a political game that affects ordinary citizens of both countries. In December 2018, Gerdt arrived in Tyumen and told the Tyumen Line publication that the escalation of the situation around Russia in the international arena was ideological.
“Someone is very worried that the resources possessed by Russia will unite with the potential that Europe, in particular Germany, has,” the German parliamentarian emphasized.
In April of the same year, Gerdt took part in the IV Yalta International Economic Forum, held in Crimea. In an interview with the NBLife portal, the deputy expressed the hope that after a possible victory in the elections, the new German authorities will “work closely with Russia – most German businessmen dream of it.”
Waldemar Gerdt was born in the Kazakh SSR, in the eighties he served in the Soviet Army. In 1989-1991 he was “the 1st secretary of the youth organization in a political party in Kazakhstan” – apparently the Komsomol. The politician left for Germany in 1993, where he had been engaged in business since 1996. Gerdt was elected to the Bundestag in 2017 from the federal state of Lower Saxony.
Representatives of German business and politics have criticized anti-Russian sanctions since their introduction in 2014. Merkel does not intend to cancel them, despite the fact that the political opponents of the party of the Chancellor, the Christian Democrats, both left and right politicians, do not support this decision.
In March, the Bundestag deputy from “AdG” Stefan Koyter called for urgently canceling the EU’s anti-Russian sanctions imposed due to the accession of Crimea to the Russian Federation, since they do not solve the problem. He emphasized that these restrictive measures were not even authorized by the UN. In addition, he said, they go against the economic interests of both Russians and Germans.
Shortly before this, a member of the Berlin Chamber of Deputies from “AdG” Gunnar Lindemann said that Western sanctions are detrimental to the economy of Germany, establishing barriers to cooperation with the Russian Federation. In addition, because of this, German experts are losing jobs.
In mid-October 2019, German economic experts said that almost half of the losses from anti-Russian sanctions were in Western countries. Monthly trade losses amount to about $ 4 billion, with Germany losing 38% of this amount – $ 667 million per month. Russia incurs only a little more than 50% of the total loss.
At the same time, residents of the former German Democratic Republic – East Germany – criticize sanctions more strongly than their Western fellow citizens. In general, opinion polls show that in Germany, more than half of Germans oppose the “new cold war” with Russia over the annexation of Crimea.
The European Union began to impose sanctions against Russia in connection with the Ukrainian crisis and the annexation of the Crimean peninsula in March 2014 – then they were personal and directed against Russian and Crimean officials. European entrepreneurs and government agencies were banned from conducting joint business with a number of large Crimean enterprises. The peninsula became part of Russia following the results of a nationwide referendum, in which the majority of the population of Crimea and Sevastopol supported reunification with the Russian Federation.
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