The European Commission (EC) is not considering at this time a blockade of Russian gas due to the invasion of Ukraine, European Commissioner for Economic Affairs Paolo Gentiloni said Saturday, but without ruling out additional sanctions on Russia.

In an interview published this Saturday in the Italian daily La Stampa and quoted by the newspaper Negócios, Gentiloni admitted that the conflict in Ukraine is not won only with sanctions on Russia. However, he assured that the sixth European package of sanctions will have "a devastating effect on the Russian economy and power.

"The official EC position is that there are no sanctions off the table. But to this day we are not talking about a gas blockade. The point is to hit Russia, but without harming us too much," the commissioner noted, adding, "War has a cost. But be careful: nobody thought of winning it with sanctions, because Vladimir Putin will only be willing to get out of it with a negotiation that allows him to avoid having to say he was defeated."

And Paolo Gentiloni reiterated that "the six packages launched by the Commission will, in any case, have a devastating effect on the Russian economy and power," considering the effectiveness of the approved measures "indubitable."

Although the European front is united in the war for Ukraine, Gentiloni was unhappy about the difficulties in reaching consensus on some measures, alluding to the position of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at the last European Council.

"Decision-making in Brussels is very difficult and it was shameful to see how everything was slowed down because one of the 27 stood up and said that a decision taken by the meeting of heads of state and government was not good enough," he said, calling for a change in European procedures: "We have to change the rules, Mario Draghi [Italian Prime Minister] and Emmanuel Macron [French President] have been clear about this, and I hope Berlin will also take care of the issue."

"But let's not look for alibis, because even with the instruments at its disposal, Europe is doing its part in a big way: coal ban, progressive oil embargo, Russian banks out of Swift, initiatives against Moscow's central bank, assets frozen to oligarchs for €12 billion, almost €2 billion of which is in Italy. Russia is heading for a technical default and will have a 10% drop in GDP," he noted.

Asked about a European minimum wage, in the midst of the debate in Italy to approve a national minimum wage, which does not yet exist, Gentiloni considered it necessary given the loss of purchasing power of wages.

"There is a framework directive from the Commission. We haven't gone further because many countries are holding back: the Scandinavians, because they already apply it through collective bargaining, and those in the East, because they fear it won't be sustained," he said.

On the increase in inequalities following the crises of recent years, with the covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, the commissioner stressed that "the directive for the recognition of workers' rights on digital platforms is of great importance."

"The Commission had suggested a tax on the extraordinary profits of energy companies, which Italy was quick to implement, and we want to get to the minimum tax to avoid leakages to tax havens. We also need extraordinary taxation for the large multinationals that have emerged victorious from the crises of recent years," he concluded.