The triumph of the right in Europe will not save Russia from new sanctions
After the elections to the European Parliament, one should not expect friendly steps towards Russia from right-wing parties, other than populist statements.
Political scientist Veronika Krasheninnikova stated this during a round table on the topic: “Results of the elections to the European Parliament,” a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“You know, to some extent, today’s situation, the situation of these last months, is reminiscent of what we saw with Donald Trump two and a half to three years ago. All our high expectations from Trump, based on his simple words and promises to get along with Russia, were still very much not justified. The rounds of sanctions that were imposed on Russia number in the dozens, and these sanctions are not only the result of an internal struggle between Democrats and Republicans, and those forces that are acting against Donald Trump. These sanctions are imposed by the government, the cabinet of Donald Trump, the people whom he himself appointed. The most aggressive appointments, like John Bolton for the post of national security adviser, are the choice of Donald Trump.
Therefore, I would like to once again warn against illusions regarding the extreme right forces that declare themselves friends of Russia. So, Mateo Salvini, who vowed to lift sanctions, has already been in power for a year and three months, but regularly voted for sanctions in the European Union. The Austrian Freedom Party, in coalition with the Conservative Party, has been in power for more than a year and a half and also diligently voted for sanctions,” she noted.
MGIMO Associate Professor at the Russian Foreign Ministry Nikolai Topornin also emphasized that the European Union will remain united, despite the statements of Eurosceptics, and changes within the organization can only be aimed at expanding the internal sovereignty of the participating countries.
“No revolution has occurred, the European Parliament, today, will act in most cases from a pro-European position, this means that nothing seriously threatens the European Union. Yes, everyone is saying that reforms are needed, modernization is needed, changes are needed, maybe, indeed, it is worth talking about giving greater functions to national parliaments or state governments, that is, redistribution of sovereignty, which is probably the starting point in all of these discussions.
But, by and large, there is no talk of any collapse, splits, or any other way out; many say that some kind of pro-Brexit forces are beginning to form there. No, you see that the UK cannot leave the EU, they have calculated and realized that this will bring major losses: economic, political, even humanitarian losses, meaning how many British people, millions, work in continental Europe.
What can we say about other countries? There, if there are Eurosceptics, this is a normal process, after all, the European Union unites 28 countries with different levels of development, historical development, cultural, linguistic, and so on and so forth,” the expert added.
As PolitNavigator reported, on the eve of the elections to the European Parliament, even a prominent French politician took pride in the title of Russian agent.
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