The political dialogue between Russia and the European Union will improve now that the elections to the European Parliament are over, but it is unlikely that it will lead to EU sanctions against Russia being immediately lifted, Vincenzo Trani, the president of the Italian-Russian Chamber of Commerce told Sputnik in an interview
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th June, 2019) The political dialogue between Russia and the European Union will improve now that the elections to the European Parliament are over, but it is unlikely that it will lead to EU sanctions against Russia being immediately lifted, Vincenzo Trani, the president of the Italian-Russian Chamber of Commerce told Sputnik in an interview.
"A shift [in the Russia-EU relations] can happen. The question is how strong it will be. Will it be enough to result in lifted sanctions? In my opinion, this cannot happen so quickly," Trani said, asked whether the fact that political forces favoring dialogue with Russia improved their positions in the European Parliament could lead to positive changes in bilateral relations.
At the same time, Trani noted that sanctions would not prevent the two sides from building better relations with the help of the new European Parliament.
"There is no doubt that [the election results] will lead to better political dialogue between the countries. After all, these relations are not limited to just sanctions, which are only a visible part of these relations. In fact, the relations are much better than it may seem ... In my opinion, after these elections there will be a step forward," Trani said.
Relations between Moscow and the West deteriorated in 2014 after Crimea reunified with Russia and an armed conflict erupted in eastern Ukraine. The European Union and the United States imposed restrictive measures against Russian individuals, companies and economic sectors. Last June, Brussels prolonged its sanctions until June 23, 2019.
Moscow has repeatedly slammed the economic restrictions as illegitimate and imposed countermeasures in response.
EU leaders are expected to decide on whether to extend the sanctions against Russia for another six months during EU Summit that will be held from June 20-21 in Brussels.
The elections to the European Parliament were held from May 23-26 in each of the 28 member states.
