German Businesses Urge Halt on Sanctions Against Russia
Vocal Opposition Has Helped Keep Merkel From Endorsing Broader Penalties on Moscow
online.wsj.com
BERLIN— Angela Merkel is carrying a clear message from Germany's business lobby to the White House: No more sanctions.
As a result, Germany's position on additional, tougher sanctions is unlikely to shift, barring a dramatic escalation of the conflict in Ukraine—a message Ms. Merkel is expected to deliver to President Barack Obama when they meet in Washington on Friday, officials in Berlin say.
As the Ukraine crisis has worsened, German officials have faced a barrage of telephone calls from senior corporate executives, urging them not to take steps that would damage business interests in Russia, people familiar with the matter say.
Until now, Western sanctions have targeted individuals and companies, but the U.S. is pushing for broader sanctions that could hit entire Russian sectors if the situation escalates.
In public, some German corporate chieftains have warned against escalating the measures.
"If there's a single message we have as business leaders, then it's this: sit down at the negotiating table and resolve these matters peacefully," Eckhard Cordes, a former Daimler AG executive who now heads the Ostauschuss, German industry's lobbying arm for Eastern Europe, told a recent conference in Berlin.
BASF Chief Executive Kurt Bock, whose company is a close partner with Russia's state-owned gas giant OAO Gazprom, recently admonished European politicians to consider the costs of sanctions and warned that unwinding the measures is often difficult. "It's up to politicians and historians to determine efficacy of boycotts, but I have my doubts," Mr. Bock said in an interview with the daily Süddeutsche Zeitung. |
