Daniel Goffart, Chief reporter at German magazine Wirtschaftswoche, warned: “There is a great danger that Washington and Moscow will then make decisions going over the heads of the EU states to their detriment”, especially in the area of sanctions policy. Goffart’s warning comes after the meeting of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz with the French President, Emmanuel Macron and Polish President Andrzej Duda on Tuesday, following the former’s trip to the US, amid intensified threat of a Russian invasion in Ukraine.
Goffart explains that “on the one hand, they want to show Russia that the three big EU countries are reacting together to the aggression from Moscow.”
“On the other hand, France currently holds the EU Council Presidency, Germany the G-7 and Poland currently chairs the OSCE,” so they need to come together and protect their interests.
According to Goffart’s analysis, Olaf Scholz has discussed with President Joe Biden over sanctions that should take effect in the event of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, during his trip to the US.
He added: “Scholz made it clear with Biden that the Western allies had been closely coordinating for a long time to discuss possible sanctions.”
Besides, Goffart said that “there are still considerable disagreements behind the scenes” on economic sanctions, as well as regarding the Nord Stream 2 pipeline dispute.
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“Washington can use it to weaken Moscow, divert billions of euros and it would be a good deal for them. In addition, not everyone in Berlin feels comfortable with the idea of being dependent on the USA in the future.
“Berlin has no illusions about the US government’s intentions.”
Sanctions seem to be discussed in the technology sector too, according to Wirtschaftswoche, and “the Europeans, especially German companies, are much more affected than US companies.
“The threat of sanctions sometimes has enormous economic consequences for Europe.”
Gaffort concluded that these possible consequences also explain Emmanuel Macron’s long discussion with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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