President of the German Institute of Economic Studies, professor-economist Marcel Fratzscher, commented on the EU's continuing economic sanctions against Russia during the press briefing in Berlin, the European bureau of Vestnik Kavkaza reports.
Speaking about the impact of the EU anti-Russian sanctions on the German economy, the expert noted that sanctions always imply the existence of losers on both sides. "Undoubtedly, there are some enterprises that benefit from the current situation, both in Russia and in Germany. But in general, sanctions are negative for the business of both countries. Almost three quarters of export from some small and medium-sized machine-building plants in Baden-Württemberg went to Russia. Thus, some German companies have seriously suffered from the sanctions," Fratzscher said.
However, as the professor noted, the negative effect of the sanctions-related decline in exports to Russia in the past two years was quite low on the scale of the German economy and amounted to less than 0.1% of German's GDP. "In the context of our economy, we can ignore it," Marcel Fratzscher said. According to the expert, the relatively limited negative impact of anti-Russian sanctions on the German economy plays a significant role in political decision-making. "If analogous measures were proposed against France with which we are bound by much closer trade ties, we would think long and hard before reaching a decision," the economist believes.
I addition, Marcel Fratzscher touched on the possibility of creating a single economic zone from Lisbon to Vladivostok. "If we consider our relations in the long term, I think that Russia belongs to Europe as well. However, there are many obstacles on the path to a single internal market, and this prospect is not expected in the next ten years," the expert is confident.
