Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bank Intesa Sanpaolo said Russia’s response to sanctions had a serious impact not only on agricultural and high-tech sectors Italy, but also on its financial system.
MOSCOW, 14 Oct. Political and business elite of the European Union finds necessary to cancel anti-Russian sanctions, said the Agency Sputnik Antonio Fallico, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bank Intesa (Russian subsidiary of the Italian group Intesa Sanpaolo Group).
“In the EU the last two weeks at the highest level of decision making there is a growing consensus about the need to find mechanisms out of the current situation”, — said the financier.
He noted that progress during the meeting “Norman Quartet” in Paris in early October influenced the positive attitude of the European leaders regarding sanctions policy.
The head of the Bank added that it entered Moscow retaliatory measures seriously affected not only the agricultural and high-tech sectors Italy, but also on its financial system, reducing the volume of bilateral trade by 36% over the last year.
Relations between Russia and the West deteriorated in connection with the situation in Ukraine. At the end of July 2014, the EU and the USA from the point of sanctions against certain individuals and companies have moved to measures against entire sectors of the Russian economy. In response, Russia has restricted food imports from countries that have imposed sanctions against her. In June of this year, the EU extended sanctions until January 2016, the government has decided to extend food embargo for a year.
