Italian-Russian Commerce Chamber Says Europe Lost 250,000 Jobs Over Anti-Moscow Sanctions

The EU sanctions against Russia have dealt a huge blow to Europe itself, which has lost 250,000 jobs as a result while pursuing "pseudonational interests," the president of the Italian-Russian Chamber of Commerce (IRCC), Vincenzo Trani, told Sputnik in an interview

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th June, 2019) The EU sanctions against Russia have dealt a huge blow to Europe itself, which has lost 250,000 jobs as a result while pursuing "pseudonational interests," the president of the Italian-Russian Chamber of Commerce (IRCC), Vincenzo Trani, told Sputnik in an interview.

"At the moment when sanctions were imposed, the political community of Europe put national interests above those private. As a result, a serious blow was dealt to private interests. The job losses across Europe have totaled 250,000. This is a huge blow," Trani said.

According to Trani, the economic restrictions have hardly brought any benefits to Europe.

"What national interests motivated it? There is still no answer. No one attacked Europe. Did it want to set international rules to protect a weaker country? Maybe. But in this case, it was up to the UN to make a decision because it is the UN's duty to protect the interests of various countries. But the UN has not imposed sanctions. This [sanctions] is a completely abnormal and dangerous situation that has harmed many European countries," he added.

The IRCC head suggested that the "erroneous" sanctions policy had become one of the reasons why a number of ruling parties across the bloc had suffered losses in the May European elections.

"People are tired of paying for erroneous decisions of politicians," Trani added.

Italy alone, the IRCC head noted, annually loses 3 billion Euros ($3.4 billion) as a result of Russia sanctions.

"In Italy, sanctions have affected entire regions.

For example, Apulia, which exported vegetables to Russia, the Veneto region, one of the richest in Italy, which has historically had strong ties with Russia. This is a concrete example when politicians make decisions in the name of pseudonational interests to the detriment of those private ones," he pointed out.

Russia, meanwhile, has managed to turn the situation to its own advantage, Trani believes.

According to him, sanctions let Moscow to accelerate localization of production in Russia. In particular, he praised the Russian government's initiative "Made With Italy," which was launched even before Europe slapped the economic restrictions on the country.

Russian-EU relations soured in 2014 when the bloc, along with the United States, imposed economic sanctions on Moscow over the armed conflict in Ukraine's east. Russia has denied having any role in the fighting and retaliated by imposing a food embargo on the Western nations that targeted it with sanctions.

According to UN Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of the unilateral coercive measures Idriss Jazairy, the European Union has suffered greater losses as a result of sanctions than Russia, which has managed to mitigate the effects of the restrictions by boosting domestic production. In March, Jazairy told Sputnik that applying sanctions that were costing more for the Europeans that for the Russians was "crazy" and called upon the sides to find other ways to overcome contradictions.