The chief EU commissioner's blind ambition to punish third countries for dealing with Russia risks hurting the European Union's international standing and alienating trade partners, former German lawmaker Armin-Paulus Hampel told Sputnik
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th May, 2023) The chief EU commissioner's blind ambition to punish third countries for dealing with Russia risks hurting the European Union's international standing and alienating trade partners, former German lawmaker Armin-Paulus Hampel told Sputnik.
Ursula von der Leyen suggested this week that a new package of sanctions against Russia should target Chinese and Iranian companies and allow trade limits to be extended to third countries if they are suspected of selling dual-use goods to Russia.
"Imposing sanctions on foreign companies and non-European countries because they are trading with Russia is a terrible decision that will have immense diplomatic repercussions," Hampel warned.
The AfD party's former parliamentary spokesman on foreign affairs said such sanctions are not rooted in the agreed trade policies set out in the Lisbon Treaty but are an attempt by Brussels to extend its extraterritorial legal outreach to mimic that of the United States.
"The European Commission wants to follow the American example of 'extraterritoriality' of the use of the dollar, but while the Dollar is still � not for long � the world Currency for energy products and the favored currency for international contracts, the euro does not have that status," he argued.
Hampel suggested that EU statesmen were not aware of Europe's declining influence and risked setting it on a slippery slope.
He pointed to a recent war of words between German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Chinese top diplomat Qin Gang who warned Berlin on Tuesday that EU attempts to exercise "long-arm jurisdiction" would be met with a firm response.
Hampel said Baerbock's threat of sanctions against the visiting diplomat from the world's second largest economy could bring about "retro-sanctions" on the German business in China. German carmaker Volkswagen alone makes 30% of its yearly profit in China, he estimated.
"Such decisions will above all hurt Europe and its status in the world. Penalizing a South American, African or Asian company for selling 'dual use' goods to Russia will anger a majority of countries that are already resenting the Western undue political dominance," Hampel argued.
