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Italian politician calls on government to settle situation around Russia food imports ban

Antonio De Poli, a member of the upper house of the Italian parliament says Russia’s ban may cost European producers up to €10 billion

ROME, August 14. /ITAR-TASS/. An Italian senator on Wednesday called on the Italian government to use its authority as presidency in the European Union to help settle the situation around Russia’s restrictions imposed in response to Western sanctions.

Antonio De Poli, a member of the upper house of the Italian parliament, said that Russia’s one-year ban on food imports from a number of countries, including Italy, would seriously hurt European manufacturers of these products. “Russia’s ban may cost European producers up to €10 billion,” he said. “If Europe takes no steps and the Italian government does not raise this issue in Brussels, our companies will go bankrupt.”

“It is the question of survival of companies and preserving jobs. This problem should be tackled delicately, the government should use all its authority and presidency in the European Union to settle the situation,” De Poli said.

EU may cancel sanctions in three months

The European Union’s sanctions against Russia and its response restrictive measures will be canceled in a span of three months as “unbearable” for both sides, Danske Bank analysts said in a survey on possible impact of the Ukrainian crisis on the European economy.

The escalation of trade wars, according to the survey, will be unbearable for both the European Union and Russia and will force the European Union to abandon its sanctions in a span from one to three months, a move to be followed by Russia as well. The European Union and Russia will lose too much if they fail to preserve trade relations in the energy sector. Hence, the risk of short-term energy delivery failure is small, while oil and gas prices are unlikely to be considerably impacted, Danske Bank analysts said.

They arrived at a conclusion that the Ukrainian crisis was unlikely to seriously impact the European economy. The highest risk, according to them, was associated with negative tendencies on the markets. The most vulnerable among the North European countries, in their opinion, is Finland, which has close relations with Russia in the areas of trade, tourism and direct investment. Norway, on the contrary, might in the long-term perspective even benefit from European sanctions in case the European Union switches from Russian gas to Norwegian.