European Commission acknowledges that Russian gas blockade not on the table
The European Commission (EC) is not ruling out any sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine, but is not currently considering a blockade of Russian gas, according to European Commissioner for Economic Affairs Paolo Gentiloni, for whom, although the conflict will not be won with sanctions, the EC's six-pack will have "a devastating effect on the Russian economy and power".
"The official EC position is that there are no sanctions off the table. But as of today we are not talking about a gas blockade. The issue is to hit Russia, but without hurting us too much," says Gentiloni in an interview published on Saturday in the Italian daily La Stampa.
Gentiloni explains that "war has a cost. But beware: nobody thought of winning it with sanctions, because (Russian President Vladimir) Putin will only be willing to get out of it with a negotiation that allows him to avoid having to say he was defeated".
"The six packages launched by the Commission will in any case have a devastating effect on the Russian economy and power, their effectiveness is beyond doubt," he adds.
Despite the fact that the European front is united in the war for Ukraine and against Russia, Gentiloni is annoyed by the difficulties in reaching a consensus on some measures, referring to the position of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at the last European Council.
"Decision-making in Brussels is very difficult, and it was embarrassing to see how everything was slowed down because one of the 27 stood up and said that a decision taken by the meeting of heads of state and government was not good enough," he said.
For Gentiloni, "we have to change the rules, (Italian Prime Minister Mario) Draghi and (French President Emmanuel) Macron were clear about it, and I hope that Berlin will also take up the issue".
"But let's not look for alibis, because even with the instruments at its disposal, Europe is doing its part in a big way: coal ban, progressive oil embargo, Russian banks out of Swift, initiatives against Moscow's central bank, assets frozen to oligarchs for 12 billion euros, almost 2 billion of them in Italy. Russia is heading for a technical default and will have a 10% drop in GDP," he added.
Asked about a European minimum wage, in the midst of the debate in Italy to approve a national minimum wage, which does not yet exist, Gentiloni considered it necessary given the loss of purchasing power of wages.
"There is a framework directive from the Commission, we have not gone further because many countries are holding back: the Scandinavians because they already apply it through collective bargaining, those in the East because they fear it will not be sustained," he said.
On the increase in inequalities following the crises of recent years, the pandemic and the war, Gentiloni said that "the directive for the recognition of the rights of workers on digital platforms is of great importance".
"The Commission had suggested a tax on the extraordinary profits of energy companies, which Italy was quick to implement, and we want to get to the minimum tax to avoid leakages to tax havens. We also need extraordinary taxation for the large multinationals that have emerged victorious from the crises of recent years," he concludes.
