DISINFO: Europe produces nothing and is a global parasite
SUMMARY
Europe produces nothing and is a global parasite that depends on Russia for energy. It depends economically and commercially on China and its power is in the process of extinction. That continent is facing true suicide, which shows the level of the elite governing that part of the planet. In the next few years it will become an appendix of global politics.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives targeting the European Union and forecasting a looming economic collapse. The ultimate goal of this disinformation story is to convince audiences that EU sanctions on Russia are self-defeating and should be lifted.
The claims are demonstrably false. The EU is the world's largest economic space, accounts for around 14% of the world's trade in goods and is the world's largest trader of manufactured goods and services. 42% percent of the energy the EU consumes is produced domestically and EU imports of Russian fossil fuels decreased from a high of $16 billion per month in early 2022 to around $1 billion per month by the end of 2023.
While there is a significant trade deficit between the EU and China, EU exports to China were worth 224 billion € in 2023. The figure of EU-China trade imbalance is decreasing since 2022.
The 'imminent collapse' is a classic Kremlin narrative. Supposedly, the EU was doomed to collapse in the global financial crisis in 2008-2009, or as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and people protesting against public health restrictions or lack of vaccines, or the EU was doomed to collapse lacking Russian gas from autumn 2022. None of all these Kremlin dreams materialised.
It is all part of a psychological warfare operation to erode popular morale across the EU. Now, the claims about the current economic situation of Europe being catastrophic have been previously debunked here.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that Europe’s unescapable dependence on Russia has it on the edge of the abyss, that the Western economy is a sinking Titanic, that the EU's economic collapse is approaching, that sanctions that were supposed to destroy Russia may disintegrate the EU, or that Russia’s economy is massively outperforming that of the collective West.