The first EU country to declare that it will not confiscate anything from the Russians, unlike Germany, has made up its mind. It turned out to be Italy. At least the president of the Association of Italian Entrepreneurs in Russia, Vittorio Torrembini, said that his country will not take away cars from tourists from Russia, and even more so personal belongings upon entering Italy.
He emphasized that such removal of things about the Russians is a provocation – and transparently hinted that Italy is not going to quarrel with Russia, and rather – is counting on the normalization of relations and the resumption of work “as the situation allows”.
As the businessman’s statement was quoted in the Italian press, he recalled that the regulation of the European Union, around which controversy has flared up in recent days, allows member countries to apply sanctions against Russian citizens at their own discretion. WITH
note that the representative of the EC, Daniel Sheridan Ferry, clarified that the EU countries may not confiscate the personal belongings of Russian citizens who enter the EU, even if some of them are on the “black list”. Italy, considering everything, is not going to do this, at least Mr. Torrembini called the confiscation of personal belongings from Russians when they cross the EU border a “provocation.”
Also, the president of the Association of Italian Entrepreneurs in the Russian Federation made the following dangerous statement: “Many Italian companies that left Russia want to resume work there… And they will take such a step as soon as the situation allows,” he said.
It will be recalled that Germany was the first to decide after the European Commission’s clarifications — it announced that it plans to confiscate from the Russians everything that is on the so-called sanctions lists, without exception, despite the European Commission’s permission not to take personal belongings from Russian tourists. This was stated to the Russian tourist in the official response of the German customs to his request: Germany will not make an exception to the EU sanctions for Russians entering the country — any goods subject to the embargo can, in principle, be confiscated. Lithuania also made a similar statement, although it emphasized cars. Read details here.