Feeble EU Squabbles over Whether to Include Designer Handbags, Diamond Trade In Sanctions

Despite tough talk over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the European Union is squabbling internally over whether to include luxury goods and diamonds in sanctions, while there is reluctance on all sides to restrict energy imports.

While the 27-member bloc had been sounding off about severe consequences for the Vladimir Putin-led Russian Federation if it carried out a military offensive against its neighbour, it evidently failed to agree a common line on sanctions over the last several months.

Joe Barnes, Brussels correspondent for The Telegraph, claims that Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi has secured a carve-out for luxury goods — presumably thinking of the lost profits if brands such as Armani and Prada could no longer sell designer shoes and handbags to wealthy Russians.

“Apparently selling Gucci loafers to oligarchs is more of a priority than hitting back at Putin,” one EU diplomat is said to have remarked.

Italy has also been “resistant to sanctions that include railways” and Belgium, for its part, is reported to have fought successfully for a luxury goods-style carve-out of its own for the diamond trade. – READ MORE