EU losses from anti-Russia sanctions estimated at €100 bln — Die Welt

BERLIN, June 19. /TASS/. The sanctions imposed by the European Union against Russia over its stance on the Ukraine crisis and Moscow’s countermeasures will cost Europe €100 billion and endanger over 2 million jobs, influential German daily Die Welt reported on Friday.

Die Welt released its forecast on the EU economy’s development amid deteriorating relations between the West and Russia.

Die Welt, which cited the research results of the Austrian Institute of Economic Research, said that "the fall in exports, which we saw in its worst manifestation in the autumn of last year, is currently a reality. Unless the situation is reversed radically, we’ll most likely be confronted with the most pessimistic scenario."

A total of 500,000 jobs are under the threat of liquidation in Germany now. The German economy will lose €27 billion and its GDP will contract by 1% in the coming years, according to experts’ estimates.

Italy will lose over 200,000 jobs and 0.9% of GDP while France’s losses will amount to 150,000 jobs and 0.5% of GDP.

The German paper further said the European Commission was avoiding the release of the data on the damage the EU sanctions had done to the European economy.

"Sometimes, European Parliament deputies are not aware of the European Commission’s damage report. Even the ministries of the EU member states are informed only orally about the sanctions impact. Possibly, this is done to prevent the figures from becoming the public domain and getting into the hands of Russians," the paper said.

Russia introduced a package of counter-measures in August last year in retaliation to the sanctions imposed by the United States, Australia, Canada, the European Union and Norway against Moscow over its stance on developments in neighboring Ukraine.

Russia’s counter-sanctions involve a one-year ban on food and agricultural imports from the countries that slapped sanctions against Moscow.