Belgian Politicians Toe EU, NATO Line on Russia Despite Opposing Sanctions

A lot of Belgian members of parliament are supporting the idea of abandoning the sanctions imposed on Russia by the European Union but just a few have the courage to admit it openly as it contradicts official EU and NATO policies toward Moscow, a spokesman for Belgium's opposition People's Party (PP) told Sputnik on Wednesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Late last week, Aldo Carcaci, a lawmaker from the PP in the Chamber of Representatives, lower house of the Belgium parliament, announced that he had drafted a resolution calling on the Belgian government to remove the anti-Russian sanctions as they are damaging business. A discussion of the draft resolution may be organized in October, after the parliamentary recess, according to Carcaci.

"We are sure that individually, many MPs are favorable to the suppression of the sanctions but they follow their party rules on it… And their parties or the government are not strongly against Russia but they follow the fray in the European Union and NATO… Difficult to find courageous politicians anywhere in Europe," Luc Rivet said.

According to him, recent statements by some NATO member-countries about the possibility of a Russian attack coupled with the recent NATO military reinforcement in Poland and the Baltic states further complicated things.

"The stupid warmongering of NATO about the ludicrous idea of a possible attack by Russia on the Baltic states makes it even more difficult for them [lawmakers] to express their real opinion," Lut Rivet claimed.

In 2014, the European Union imposed sanctions against Russian businesses and individuals amid disagreements over the crisis in Ukraine, while Russia banned EU food imports as a reciprocal measure.

Late last year, the Russian Economic Development Ministry said the country's losses from the sanctions were estimated to equal about $20-25 billion, while the European Union’s losses from the Russian food embargo were estimated at about $100 billion.