In the first broadcast of the new year, András Hont, journalist of Átlátszó, political scientist Zoltán Kiszelly, director of the Center for Political Analysis of Századvég, intellectual historian Gábor Megadja and lawyer András Schiffer were guests of Tamás Lánczi in the joint news program of M1 and hirado.hu, 48 min - Host: In the Thursday evening broadcast of the program Tamás Lánczi. One of the main topics of the conversation was the evaluation of the European Union's sanctions policy. Demokrata prepared a summary of what was said in the program.

Tamás Lánczi recalled that before Christmas, the European Commission published a "victory report" on the punitive measures introduced against Russia, and then at the beginning of the new year, Guy Verhofstadt already posted on Twitter that none of the nine sanctions packages were working. Tamás Lánczi emphasized that Verhofstadt nevertheless came to the conclusion that the failure of the sanctions policy can be changed with all-encompassing restrictions.

Zoltán Kiszelly recalled that according to the table published by the Belgian politician, the vast majority of EU states traded more with Russia in 2022 than a year earlier. According to the political scientist, it should also not be forgotten that the larger Asian states pass on cheaply purchased Russian energy carriers in Europe.

András Schiffer stated that, unfortunately, Western states do not use sanctions to force peace negotiations. In his view, the interests of large companies lie behind the decisions of the union. As he said, the military industry, "including the American military industry, benefits the most" from the current situation. According to Schiffer, in addition, companies interested in the transport of LNG (liquefied gas) can also influence EU institutions.

András Hont sees the Russian-Ukrainian conflict at the borderline of the institutionalized West. According to him, two narratives dominate in the Western world: to divide the world into moral and immoral, and on the other hand to guarantee security without "getting their hands dirty". The journalist said that the sanctions policy is the bane of the European Union, and thus it can at least be said that the Union is "at least doing something".

Gábor admits - referring back to Verhofstadt's position that the ineffectiveness of sanctions can only be corrected with more sanctions - that Brussels politicians "do not draw the logical conclusion" from the facts.

civilek.info:

Nothing new. For many years now, the leaders of the European Union - and of course the left-liberal politicians - have been stating untruths about anything without batting an eye. They deny that illegal migration is primarily not a blessing, but a curse and a security risk. How could it be, since according to the European elite, it is not that, but the shining path to the future. They deny the biological facts because they believe that there are thousands of genders and that men can give birth. Which is true, especially if the parent is a man. They curse Hungary as a dictatorship, but they have no idea to ask the citizens about anything. We are held to account for the enforcement of press freedom, but in their countries the job of the journalist who is not willing to blabber the same things that the Ballibs want to hear and read is in jeopardy. Didn't they lie that the problem with us is not the rejection of illegal migration and the child protection law? Now they admit it, but yes, this is the problem, we only get EU funds if we change it. We have systemic corruption, but there is none in the Union. Individual cases of a few hundred politicians at most.

What is new in the fact that the sanctions policy, which is obviously unsuccessful and, moreover, harmful to Europe, is declared a success? Why not deny without batting an eye that the sanctions were initially imposed to force an end to the war?

We could say that sooner or later all lies are exposed, but why? After all, this "little thing" is of no interest to liars. They also unabashedly tell lies.

Of course, they are right that sanctions work great. With these, they will also wonderfully destroy - well, not Russia, but Europe. This is also a kind of operation, not controversial. It is just icing on the cake that if the previous sanctions are unsuccessful, it is not necessary to change them, but to introduce a few more sanctions.

Let the Old Lady, Europe, go to ruin even faster. Because this Union is like that particular horse. Which is not blind, but brave, that's why it goes to the wall.

Source: Democrat

(Header image: screenshot )