Ending European Union imports of Russian uranium
Ending European Union imports of Russian uranium
www.bruegel.org
Ending European Union imports of Russian uranium
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13 comments
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I don't understand why the EU didn't cut literally all business ties with Russia on day one of the invasion and then dealt with the fall-out (pun intended).
By now, we would have fully adjusted to an economy without Russian ties, and Russia's war chest would have run out.As it stands, the EU has transferred more money to Russia since 2022 than to Ukraine.
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Because it would have meant a massive economic turndown and within weeks any popular support for Ukraine would have vanished.
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I think in the beginning popular support would have held. People, me included, were really scared and opposed to accepting the invasion. Now after the years support for Ukraine is much lower, Ukraine is set to lose the war unless some major shift in policy occurs and the half baked measures not only made everything much more expensive, but a lot of it even benefitted Russia by raising the gas price w.o. cutting them out of the market.
However solving the situation probably would have required a one time wealth taxation, putting energy related businesses under tighter control and scrutinizing sanction evaders. Of course that is not wanted in neoliberal countries.
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You're not totally wrong. I still think a little more time would have been necessary, say 6 months. But at that point in time, we should have made sure to cut every major connection, oil/gas/nuclear/steel/wood and to redistribute Russian foreign assets. We could have used the multiple GWp of Chinese solar panels stranded in European ports to quickly reduce dependence on gas in spring/summer/fall. We could have announced major investment in wind/solar/heat pumps.
Instead, we got the half measures you mentioned, assets only frozen, Russian LNG and tanker oil somehow still flowing freely, but with new middlepeople getting a cut and EdF keeping its mortal dependence on a Russian nuclear supply chain. And we got almost no new green investment.
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Because we need gas.
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13 comments