"There are cracks in the European position towards Russia"

"The EU is extending its sanction against Russia by six months. The Russian prime minister announced in April that the Russian boycott would also be extended until the start of 2017. All European countries seem to agree with decision to expand the sanctions, but there are cracks in the European position from different sides." This was said by Hilde Vautmans of the European Parliament. She is a Euro parliamentarian (Open Vld) and recently spoke about the serious situation in the Belgian fruit cultivation sector.

Hilde continues: "We see that the UK, France and Sweden want to consult their parliament on the sanction decisions. We also know that the French senate adopted a non binding resolution to question the EU sanctions." Hilde emphasises that she doesn't want to go as far as some French politicians who want to lift the EU sanctions against the Russian defence and start to share military intelligence. Yet she remains in full action.

Increasing pressure
"Over the last few weeks and days we have increased the pressure in the European Parliament, with internal meetings and meetings with affected fruit growers. On the other hand we are also increasing the pressure in Belgium and Flanders. I met with the relevant ministers themselves and with delegations of affected producers multiple times. Again and again it shows that the political level hasn't estimated the fall out of those sanction correctly. The severity of sanctions are opening eyes here and there and gradually people are starting to think of solutions."

Working together
"Increasingly, policy makers are being pressured by the producers to see how severe this crisis is. Where people used to assume business as usual where they pushed the real decisions forward by automatically extending the sanctions, this is slowly changing and they are starting to look at the big picture. When people are convinced something has to be done, they start to look for alliances. We notice that from the fruit cultivation sector the interest between Belgium, the Netherlands and France is increasing for the actions being taken there. I have to honestly admit that we aren't as far as we would like to be, but we're getting there." She believes that Belgium should promote its products more internally. "We also have to continue to create openings to the outside markets. EU Commissioner Phil Hogan has to be more conscious of the problems. And we continue to try and get money from general measures in Europe. We will continue to increase the pressure and hope for a reversal over the next few days and weeks."

Russia sanctions
Abolishing sanction against Russia doesn't necessarily mean that this country will also lift its sanctions. "We are in a trench war in which no one wants to be the first to pop their head up for fear of losing face. When one of the two sides starts to move, the other will have to respond to this. The boycott isn't just hurting on the European side, the sanctions are also doing more harm than good on the Russian side as well. The prices for basic products have risen or simply can't be found. The Russian economy decreased by 4%, whilst the predictions were for a growth of 5% in 2015. Both parties would benefit from talks."

MINSK
Vautmans stands by the MINSK agreements. "I think we need to fully enact them. Whether the current pressure of sanctions and boycott will lead to this is a big question to me. I am not so much questioning the MINSK agreements as the form of sanctions and boycotts. The sanctions and boycott should be allowed to hit the people and producers."