PARIS, July 2. /TASS/. The European countries have so far taken an irreconcilable position towards Russia in the Ukrainian conflict, but Europe has fewer and fewer resources to realize its growing ambitions, Thierry Mariani, a member of the European Parliament from France, said.
"Europe has big ambitions, but it has fewer and fewer resources," he told TASS in an interview.
The politician believes that the European leadership has now begun to think about how to avoid a "black winter" in the energy sector by the end of the year. According to him, the question is increasingly being raised that Europe "has clean and cheap energy at hand" from Russia. "Are we really going to keep destroying ourselves to please Mr. Zelensky?" Mariani wondered.
He said that a report on reducing Russian energy consumption put to vote at the upcoming plenary session of the European Parliament (EP) in Strasbourg was not even an initiative of the European Commission - the report was prepared in the EP. "It is absolutely obvious that the overwhelming majority in parliament are those who want to continue the war at any cost. But perhaps those who think and see reality understand that we are driving ourselves into a dead end," he said.
He welcomed the first telephone conversation in almost three years between the Presidents of Russia and France, Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron. According to him, this conversation may indicate Europe’s desire to resume dialogue with Russia after several years of accusations and escalating tensions. "Everyone knows how this war will end, and the sooner it ends, the better," Mariani said.
"At the moment, the paradox is that [US President Donald] Trump is talking about peace, and the European Union is taking such an irreconcilable position. At the moment, there are still two officially opposing positions. But for the first time in three years, the phone started working again. This is why I think that we should not attach too much importance to this call, but it is a very good sign," he concluded.