SOCHI, November 8. /TASS/. European governments currently often lack competence for making smart decisions, and this is particularly true of the economic sphere, Russian President Vladimir Putin told the plenary session of the Valdai Discussion Club.

"When I ask my colleagues, or experts, about what Europe is lacking now, the answer often is ‘brains.’ It’s not because they are dimwits; nothing of this kind, no. It’s because economic decisions are made by politicians, who have little or no competence in economics," Putin said, describing the decisions that these people often make as "politicized, poorly calculated and lacking a factual basis."

This applies to the green agenda as well, Putin continued.

"Environmental protection is certainly a noble thing. Are we worried [about the climate change]? Yes, we are. Some are outright scared of it. But scaring people on purpose, with the only goal of passing some impossible decisions, is simply unfair to the voters," he said.