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New Political Parties Can Make Brussels Reverse Anti-Russia Stance

© Flickr / GUE/NGLLola Sanchez, member of the European Parliament from Spanish left-wing Podemos party
Lola Sanchez, member of the European Parliament from Spanish left-wing Podemos party - Sputnik International
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New political parties gaining momentum in a number of European states could make Brussels lift its anti-Russia sanctions, Lola Sanchez, member of the European Parliament from Spanish left-wing Podemos party, told Sputnik.

Plenary meeting of the winter session of the Parliamentary Assembly Council of Europe - Sputnik International
EU Parliament's Anti-Russia Atmosphere Prevents Criticism of Ukraine
MADRID (Sputnik) The left-wing Podemos party, founded in 2014, came first with 22.5 percent of those questioned about who they would vote for in parliamentary elections in Spain at the end of 2015. Podemos, ahead of the two main Spanish political parties, the ruling conservative People’s Party and the Spanish Socialist Worker’s Party (PSOE), won easily, according to the poll published by El Pais in March.

“We should wait when the situation in such countries as Spain, Ireland, Italy and Portugal will change, where new political movements are actively emerging,” Sanchez said.

According to her, this could help to sway the balance of opinion in Europe and consequently the approach of Brussels to Russia.

Sanchez, who was raised in Murcia, one of the main agricultural regions of Spain that suffered severely from the Brussels sanctions, noted that a lot of small companies exporting goods to Russia had to leave trucks full of vegetables and fruits rotting amid the restrictions.

"Neither Spain nor the EU benefit from it," she said.

Sanchez added that sanctioning is a punitive way to maintain international relations, and that political engagement is best served by dialogue.

The European Union, alongside the United States and a number of other Western nations, has accused Moscow of interfering with Ukraine's internal affairs, escalating the violence in the country's southeast. Russian authorities have denied involvement in the Ukrainian conflict.

Following the accusations, the West imposed several rounds of sanctions on Russia, targeting several sectors of the Russian economy, including banking, energy and defense, as well as certain individuals. In response, Moscow issued a year-long embargo on food imports from countries that imposed sanctions.

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