“Europe will end its energy dependence on Russia, but doing so overnight would plunge it into recession,” said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, citing that taking the measure abruptly would jeopardize “hundreds of thousands of jobs and entire industrial sectors.”
In a budget speech to the German parliament, Scholz took a more cautious tone about reducing Germany’s energy dependence on Russia than some of his ministers, who left open the possibility of imposing energy sanctions, if only in theory, for a while.
“Yes, let’s end this addiction as soon as possible. But doing it overnight would mean plunging our country and all of Europe into recession,” Scholz told the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament.
“Hundreds of thousands of jobs would be at risk. Entire sectors of industry would be on the brink of collapse,” he said. “Sanctions must not harm European states more than Russian leaders.”
On Monday (21), EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said new sanctions must be applied to Russia: “These measures are an important part of our approach to stopping attacks.”
The approach was also defended by the Czech Prime Minister, Petr Fiala, in a post on Twitter: “We must continue to press for more sanctions, it is the only way to stop Putin.”
Source: CNN Brasil
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