It becomes clear that most Europeans are no longer interested in the activities of the European Union, while the rest are strongly opposed to the current EU policies.

       Director of studies of the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris and expert of the Valdai International Discussion Club Jacques Sapir believes that European governments have never listened to what their citizens have to say, and that this will lead to a major crisis in the future.

       According to Jacques Sapir, economic relations between Russia and France are clearly important for both countries. No less important are bilateral relations with Russia for Germany, Italy and Great Britain, as European countries maintain active economic ties with Russia, importing energy and metals and exporting various products. Economic sanctions could hurt Europeans as well.

       Jacques Sapir also said that this issue can be seen from two perspectives: that of Europe and that of the United States. The US is looking at the situation through the prism of its own version of extraterritorial rights. Attacks by the US authorities on BNP Paribas, a French bank which the US Justice Department suspected of violating international sanctions against Iran, Cuba and Sudan and signing dollar-equivalent contracts with them, is another case in point. According to Sapir, none of the bank's branches ever made such deals in the US, but Washington is still trying to impose a fine on the bank's management, to which the French government is not responding, though it should have condemned such an interpretation of international law.

       Regarding the results of the European Parliament elections, Jacques Sapir sees two trends in Europe. First, significant numbers of EU citizens are reluctant to vote. This is seen particularly clearly in Eastern Europe: about 70% in Poland and Hungary and over 80% in the Czech Republic and Slovakia abstained from voting. The percentage of registered voters who abstained from voting in France, the UK, Spain and Germany was also high. Second, there is an increase in the number of Eurosceptics or, as Jacques Sapir calls them, Europhobes. There’s the British UKIP party, which performed quite well during elections in the UK. There’s the Front National in France which also showed good results. There is Golden Dawn in Greece and the Democratic Party in Italy. However, all these parties’ political programs are quite different.

       “If we look at the big picture, it becomes clear that most Europeans are no longer interested in the activities of the European Union, while the rest are strongly opposed to the current EU policies,” Sapir said, adding that Europe is not listening to these voices and sentiments. Europe has never listened to its people when they try to express their will, and Europeans must resign themselves to this. To give an example, he cited the referendum on the draft European Constitution in France in 2005, and the signing of the Treaty of Lisbon a few years later, which used 90% of terminology that wasn’t supported by voters during the referendum. This practice, Sapir believes, will lead to a vast crisis not only in France, but across Europe as well.

       Jacques Sapir also spoke about Ukraine. According to him, the use of military aircraft and artillery against the insurgent population both in Syria and Libya was considered not just a measure of last resort, but outright unacceptable. During a special operation in Libya, France and Britain specifically tried to avoid air strikes and the use of heavy equipment against rebels in Benghazi. The Kiev government is using artillery and military aircraft against its own people in southeastern Ukraine. Hence, there is a problem of double standards, with Europe preaching one logic during military operations in the Middle East, then turning around and saying the opposite about Ukraine.

       According to Jacques Sapir, the problem in Ukraine is not that France (during celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the landing of allied troops in Normandy, Ed.) is unable to organize a dialogue between Poroshenko and Putin; the problem is to convince the newly elected Ukrainian president to open a dialogue with the self-defense forces. President Poroshenko now has legal tools to end the conflict peacefully, but he could lose them if the civil war in southeastern Ukraine continues.

       Views expressed are of individual Members and Contributors, rather than the Club's, unless explicitly stated otherwise.