Immediately after two Russian businessmen were removed from the EU sanctions list, a confession came from the European Commission that few had expected: the European Union is tired of restrictions against Moscow. This is covered in a RIA Novosti report.
EU Economy Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said in an interview with Euractiv: "There is a certain fatigue after almost five years of conflict." This statement came against the backdrop of France securing the removal of Alisher Usmanov from sanctions, and Luxembourg securing that of Mikhail Fridman. However, there was no lack of disagreements: Latvia blocked the decision at the last moment, but then, under pressure from Paris, still lifted its veto.
Friction also arose in July, when the 21st package was discussed. Six countries opposed it. Greece pointed out that a ban on transporting Russian LNG would hit the shipping company Dynagas. Portugal and Germany did not want to stop fish imports. France and Italy, dependent on tourist flows, called for easing visa restrictions for Russians. Austria demanded the unfreezing of two billion euros in Russian assets to compensate Raiffeisenbank for a fine imposed by Moscow. In the end, Brussels made concessions.
Introducing sanctions requires consensus among the 27 states. Germany and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen want to decide this issue by simple majority, but this will not be possible in the near future, Dombrovskis emphasized. Such changes also require consensus.
According to the European commissioner, it is necessary to overcome "fatigue" and put even more pressure on Moscow.
The EU's sanctions resource has long been exhausted, notes Maria Shapor, associate professor of the Department of International Business at the Financial University.
Politico also drew attention to this. There are no simple solutions left, and the proposed additional measures affect the interests of individual states, so agreeing on all of them is increasingly difficult, the publication wrote.
"To mask the current situation, which is effectively a dead end, the EU for the first time decided on a long-term extension of sanctions - for three years. Such a step effectively records the impossibility of consensus," Shapor says.
Such a policy costs the EU dearly. If in 2021 GDP grew by 5.2%, then in 2023 it grew by only 0.5%. In 2025 - 1.5%. The economy of the Old World is in a zone of turbulence.
The loss of a significant sales market and rising costs for logistics and raw materials have sharply reduced the competitiveness of industry for a whole range of sectors - from agriculture to automobile manufacturing, points out Yulia Davydova, associate professor of the Department of Political Analysis and Socio-Psychological Processes at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics.
Ursula von der Leyen acknowledged: "Households and businesses have faced incredibly high energy costs." According to the IMF, after abandoning Russian supplies, the wholesale gas price in the EU rose by about two times.
And, for example, Poland and Germany lost more than 70% of exports to Russia.
Finland has a boom in bankruptcies and unemployment. In Germany (the EU's "engine"), factories are closing and there are mass layoffs. German cars are losing out to Chinese competition.
Gas storage reserves are extremely low. At the same time, the EU is banning imports of Russian LNG from January 2027. The International Energy Agency has already warned: this winter will be hard for Europe.
According to Davydova, "fatigue" is a softened formulation. What is meant is growing dissatisfaction among business over deindustrialization, and among voters over a decline in living standards.
"Inflation and slowing economic growth are fueling negative sentiment. People are voting for the right, which opposes unlimited sanctions pressure on Russia," the expert explains.
A striking example is the victory of the Alternative for Germany party in Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
Under these conditions, the European Commission is forced to publicly acknowledge reality: the potential for increasing sanctions pressure has been fully exhausted, and the bureaucratic structures of the European Union are moving from a strategy of economic offensive to passively holding on to measures already introduced.