The European Union applied to the World Trade Organization to collect 290 billion euros from Russia. The EU considers this money to be compensation for the import substitution policy.
The European Union claims that Russia “discriminated” on European goods for this amount. We are talking about national quotas for public procurement and the need to obtain prior permission from Russian companies that intend to purchase goods abroad.
The EU believes that such conditions make it impossible for fair competition and put foreign companies in a less advantageous position.
At the same time, Brussels realizes that for several years Russia has purposefully formed measures aimed at infringing on the interests of European companies.
The message on the WTO website says that in 2019 the cost of tenders by state-owned companies from Russia amounted to 23.5 trillion rubles, or 20% of the country’s GDP.
On November 29, Moscow did not support the creation of a WTO commission to resolve the dispute. However, on December 20, the EU sent a second request for the formation of the body, and the WTO agreed with the reasons. The proceedings will be attended by the United States, Switzerland, Ukraine, China and other countries.
It is noted that this dispute will become one of the largest in terms of price in the WTO. Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the successful completion of almost all import substitution tasks. He named innovation as the most important area of this activity.
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