“Only fanatical individuals can claim that normalizing relations with a great country is something dangerous“, said Petar Volgin, MEP from the “Europe of Sovereign Nations“. Debates were held in the European Parliament on the danger of normalizing relations with Russia in culture and sports.
The Bulgarian MEP explained that when culture, sports, science are sacrificed to ideological intolerance, this is actually a signal of something very dangerous. “The Nazis once expelled many people from universities and theaters just because of their Jewish origin. Then came the Holocaust. Today, concerts and performances are being canceled in the heart of Europe just because they feature Russian artists. These days, the European Commission has cut off funding for the Venice Biennale just because the Russian pavilion will be reopened at the festival.“
Peter Volgin pointed out that at the same time, European taxpayers' money is being used to sponsor performances that have no artistic value and are not of interest to the audience. He also recalled that in Ancient Greece, wars were stopped during the Olympics. “People knew then that sports and art could help achieve peace. Today, the leaders of the European Union are doing exactly the opposite - they are in every way hindering understanding between peoples and sabotaging any attempt at normalization. Bans always lead to war and never to peace“, Volgin concluded.
Glenn Micallef, European Commissioner for Intergenerational Justice, Youth, Culture and Sport, also participated in the meeting. According to him, Russia is instrumentalizing sport for political purposes, which should not be allowed. He gave the example of FIFA President Gianni Infantino being invited to return Russia to world football, which according to Micallef is absolutely unacceptable. The group “Europe of Sovereign Nations“ expressed an additional opinion that the EU has hit rock bottom and is causing ridicule around the world.