Brussels has responded fiercely to Vladimir Putin’s war plan by hammering Russia with a series of sanctions aimed at crippling the war-torn country’s economy and derailing its war effort altogether. But Putin has not been deterred by all this so far, and there are now fears that he may soon wage his own political war against the European Union as part of a cruel revenge plot. Hundreds of millions of Europeans are facing a bitterly cold winter and have been urged to ration gas as Putin faces the possibility of cutting off supplies to the continent entirely.
The EU has claimed the move is “politically motivated”, with gas supplies coming to Europe from Russia via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline quickly reduced to just a fifth of its capacity.
In addition, euro zone inflation rose to 8.9 percent in July from 8.6 percent a month earlier, with the euro falling to parity against the US dollar in early this month for the first time in over 20 years.
Charles-Henri Gallois, chairman of the Generation Frexit campaign in France, warned that EU sanctions against Russia are counterproductive, warning that a euro zone recession is now “obvious”.
He told Express.co.uk: “Some European countries, like Germany and Italy, are very dependent on Russian gas. It can’t be replaced like that.
“Other European countries, including France, will also suffer because Russia was a major oil supplier.
“Quite cheap and they did it with euro contracts. Now, we are buying the same oil but through India or Saudi Arabia with a margin and in dollars. As the euro falls, this is still done more expensive.
“It’s quite hypocritical because it’s the same with gas – you can’t replace Russian oil like that. You don’t have the facilities or the equivalent.
“Economic sanctions are hurting Europe more than Russia. Recession is evident.”
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“Sanctions against Russia are suicide for Europe. Economic sanctions that hit you more than Russia are completely stupid.
“I am against the invasion of Ukraine, but we should stop the sanctions and focus on a peace to avoid the suicide of Europe.
“If we don’t, Europe will face perhaps the biggest financial crisis in its history.”
There was good news for the eurozone economy on Friday after it was revealed that it had grown much faster than expected in the second quarter of this year.
But economists warned that a further spike in higher inflation and supply chain problems could trigger a mild recession before the end of 2022.
Eurozone GDP rose slightly by 0.7% compared to the first three months of this year, with a year-on-year gain of 4%, beating forecasts for a 0.2% quarterly gain and 3 .4% annually.
However, eurozone inflation jumped to another record high in July – up to 8.9% from 8.6% the previous month – and the worst is yet to come.
ING economist Bert Colijn said: “The acceleration in economic growth is mainly due to the effects of the reopening and masks underlying weakness due to high inflation and manufacturing problems.
But the expert warned: “From here, we expect GDP to continue on a downward trend as the reopening of services moderates, global demand softens and reduced purchasing power persists.
“We expect this to translate into a mild recession from the second half of the year.”
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