The EU’s eastern neighbor appears to be seriously rethinking her options. Certain events related to this began developing late last year.
According to the EUobserver online newspaper, on December 24, 2014 Germany’s finance Minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, told the Rheinische Post,
“I hope every day that Russia will return to co-operation with the West, but until then we are sticking to the sanctions.”
Those sanctions, imposed after the Crimea annexation, plus tumbling oil prices, decimated Russia’s currency, the rouble (aka ruble), near the end of 2014.
Game Change
And less than two weeks after Schaeuble’s statement, a January 2, 2015 headline in the same newspaper read,
“Russia calls for EU talks with newly born Eurasian Union”
Russia’s EU ambassador stressed the new Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) alliance was a better match than America, according to the EUobserver. He stated,
“Do you believe it is wise to spend so much political energy on a free tech trade zone with the USA while you have more natural partners at your side, closer to home? We don’t even chlorinate our chickens”.
Chalk up a win for Western Europe.
Read the entire January 2, 2015 article here
