The European Parliament spokesman and director general of communication of the European Parliament, Jaume Duch, has defended that the European Union continues to impose more sanctions on Russia as long as the war in Ukraine lasts, and has assured that the packages of sanctions that have already been applied are making Russia «becoming a pariah state».
«I believe that at the moment Russia has become a pariah state and we hope that at some point it will be the Russians themselves who will realize this and act accordingly,» Duch said in a Europa Press interview.
The spokesman of the European Parliament has stressed that the eight packages of sanctions approved so far are isolating the hard core of the Kremlin and are a way to make Russia «realize that this war, among other things, is like a cancer for its own future», as he considers that the sanctions are doing a lot of damage to the Russian economy.
He explained that the sanctions have led to the departure of hundreds of European companies, as well as to international diplomatic isolation: «They have been removed from many discussion forums on practically any type of policy», and also in the debates within the framework of the United Nations, he added.
Duch maintained that «there is still a lot» to be done in terms of sanctions, and recalled that the European Parliament has approved several resolutions with large majorities, although not unanimously -he clarified-, which are committed to insisting on sanctions against Russia in the coming months.
BARMAR In the energy field, the European Parliament spokesman stressed that Spain and also Catalonia «will play a visible role» after the agreement between Spain, France and Portugal to build the maritime route between Barcelona and Marseille (BarMar) to transport gas and green hydrogen to Europe.
For Duch, «the logic makes think that there will be money from the European Union» to finance this project and more taking into account that in the next years there will be an important part of the European investments to the diversification of the supply of energetic sources, as he explained.
GIORGIA MELONI Regarding the new Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, leader of the far-right party Brothers of Italy, Duch stressed that «the European institutions expect this Italian government and those that may come in the next few years to continue with a constructive line and, above all, with a realistic line», and stressed that Italy is a very important country for the EU and also for the European and world economy.
The spokesman of the European Parliament affirmed that the position of the European institutions with respect to governments of Meloni’s political color is «the pragmatic position of saying that what is important is not what is said or what has been said, what is important is what is done».
Asked about the Euroscepticism that these political parties have defended in recent years, Duch answered that citizens have realized the advantages of being a member of the EU in situations such as Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine: «I suppose that this is the explanation why in recent years some parties that proposed leaving the EU have proposed reforms of the EU or of the way in which governments participate» in the Union.
JOSEP BORRELL On the recent controversy involving the EU’s high representative for foreign policy, Josep Borrell, who compared Europe to a garden and the rest of the world to a jungle, the spokesman for the European Parliament referred to Borrell’s own subsequent explanations, and said that he understood him to mean that «the EU is a territory that functions much better than most of the rest of the countries or territories in the world».
He affirmed that Borrell’s words did not provoke any internal reaction in the EU: «I have not seen that in the European Parliament itself, in the European institutions, that this issue has concerned more than 30 seconds. Logically, in the international world and in the world of international relations, many things can be taken advantage of», he said when asked about the reactions of Iran or the United Arab Emirates.
CATALONIA AND THE EU Duch has valued as very positive the visit last week of the president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, in Brussels, where he resumed relations with the European Commission, after five years without contacts after the 1-O: «Everything that is dialogue and everything that is to do politics within the legality and within the framework of the laws is very positive».
On the immunity and the status of MEP of the former president of the Generalitat Carles Puigdemont, he has argued that the European Parliament «the only thing it can do is to comply with judicial resolutions», and added that it is now waiting for the Central Electoral Board (JEC) to respond to the European Parliament if it considers Puigdemont MEP or not, after which the legal services of the parliament will say what should be done and how.
