After twelve sanctions packages and billions of euros in weapon deliveries, the measures by the EU have produced modest results only.

The Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union announced this week that the new, 13th package of EU sanctions against Russia has been completed. According to a statement from the Council in Brussels on Friday, the sanctions list was expanded as part of the new package to include 106 individuals and 88 entities responsible for acts that undermine or threaten to undermine Ukraine’s territorial integrity, autonomy and independence. According to Petra Steger, acting spokeswoman and EU candidate of the Austrian Freedom Party (FPO), this as the continuation of a failed policy.

„After twelve packages of sanctions and billions of euros in weapon deliveries, the results of EU action are rather modest. Russia has managed to keep its economy stable and simply redirects its imports through other countries. European industry, on the other hand, is suffering massively from high energy costs and is moving abroad in large numbers,”

– the right-wing politician said, adding that the current failed sanctions regime, which endangers prosperity and pushes peace further and further away, must finally be brought to an end.

„It is high time to move the peace initiatives forward. Austria, alongside the European Union, could have contributed to this, but so far the EPP-Green government has preferred to disregard our constitutionally guaranteed neutrality, deciding to support the self-destructive sanctions regime without any protest instead,”

– Petra Steger said. She pointed out that Chancellor Karl Nehammer, Werner Kogler and his colleagues had long lost all interest in the population. A recent poll by the European Council on Foreign Relations shows that 49% of Austrians support peace talks, compared with only 23% who back the policies pursued so far. Contrary to the will of the people, Austria’s coalition government continues to support the EU’s sanctions, thereby betraying the country’s constitutional neutrality,” FPO’s candidate for the European Parliament explained.