EU citizens are already feeling the effects of sanctions against Russia, which raises questions about how sustainable the bloc's financial model is, the European Parliament's president, Roberta Metsola said.
"Our citizens have already started to feel the effects [of sanctions]. You have discussions in parliaments but also at a European level how to counter that. Is our financing model something we can sustain? Can we put more money not only in defence but also in cushioning electricity bills that cannot be paid?" the Maltese politician said during her speech at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit.
Earlier this month, the EU introduced the sixth package of sanctions against Russia, including a gradual phasing-out of Russian oil. The new sanctions ban "the purchase, import or transfer of crude oil and certain petroleum products from Russia into the EU," with the phasing-out of Russian oil scheduled to take place within "six months for crude oil and eight months for other refined petroleum products." The bloc also agreed to switch three more Russian banks from the international SWIFT banking system: Sberbank, Credit Bank of Moscow, and Russian Agricultural Bank.
The EU joined the US and some other nations by introducing unprecedented economic sanctions against Russia over Moscow's special military operation in Ukraine which started in late February after requests for help from Ukraine's breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk amid continuing aggression from the Kiev regime. Some of the EU's top officials admitted that anti-Russia sanctions would definitely damage European citizens, but all the same, stressed the need for such tough measures to respond to what they see as "Russian aggression in Ukraine".
Russia's President Vladimir Putin repeatedly said that by imposing economic sanctions against his country the West was "shooting itself in the foot". He described sanctions against the Russian energy sector as "suicidal", warning that this would result in nations facing the highest energy costs ever.