Europe 'In For Very Rocky Times' After Failed Sanctions on Russia

Economist Richard Wolff warned the EU may find itself in a “terminal crisis.”

Beijing reacted angrily Wednesday to reports that the European Union plans to target three Chinese companies as part of the bloc’s 13th round of sanctions against Russia.

The move by the EU follows claims that Chinese and Indian businesses have helped Russia “circumvent” European sanctions by providing them with electronic components used in the manufacturing of drones and other military equipment. The EU has imposed sanctions on Russia since the intensification of the Donbass conflict in early 2022.

Beijing blasted the EU restrictions as “illegal” and criticized the “long-arm jurisdiction” against Chinese companies.

China has benefited in recent months as Western sanctions against Russian energy have hampered European competitiveness, forcing companies in Germany and other EU nations to raise prices as they rely on more expensive American liquified natural gas. Seen in this light, the EU’s attempts to punish Chinese businesses may be viewed as a desperate attempt to hobble the competition as Europe increasingly faces economic crisis and deindustrialization.

Economist Richard Wolff joined Sputnik’s The Critical Hour program on Wednesday to discuss the grim economic outlook for the continent.

“Europe, which has been kind of a dominant player in the whole world for a couple of thousand of years, is in what I believe to be – and I'm far from the only one – a crisis so profound it may be what we look back on and call the terminal crisis, the last one, because it literally cannot survive,” Wolff speculated.

“On the one hand, it is being outcompeted by the United States, which has dominated it for the last 75 years anyway,” he noted. “But now the new player in the world economy, the People's Republic of China and its allies, known generally as the BRICS, competing and challenging Europe, from the other side of the planet, if you like, means that Europe is caught between them.”

Wolff claimed the cultural, historical, and linguistic differences between EU countries have undermined the continent’s attempts to unify in recent decades. Now, Europe is a “junior partner” Wolff claimed, caught between the US-led G7 economic bloc and the China-led BRICS countries.

While Europe previously benefited from its relationship with Russia in the form of cheap natural gas, Russia has now turned towards China and the other nations of the BRICS bloc after being “betrayed by the rest of Europe.” If the solidifying of new alliances has economically harmed Europe, it has benefitted Russia, Wolff claimed, which has been able to sell its oil and gas to India and China.

“The Russian ruble is in fine shape. The Russian economy is growing faster than last year, [faster] than the United States is and is in no way falling apart,” the economist insisted. Meanwhile “no one is buying European or German products,” he claimed, contributing to “a really critically-wounded Europe.”

“We are in for very rocky times,” Wolff warned ominously.

In other economic news, the EU has recently threatened to confiscate Russian funds frozen as a result of Western sanctions, causing IMF officials to caution the bloc to ensure European countries have “sufficient legal support” before undertaking the desperate maneuver.

IMF First Deputy Managing Director Gita Gopinath admitted Western sanctions had failed to prevent Russia from selling energy on the world market, noting the country has been able “to export large quantities of oil despite the price cap, having earned a large amount in terms of export earnings.”