Georg Mayer is an Austrian politician and Member of the European Parliament from Austria. He is a member of the Freedom Party of Austria. Georg Mayer is a qualified lawyer and a member of the radical right-wing populist FPÖ, known for its frankly pro-Kremlin stances.
Pursuing the party line, Mayer has been constant in criticizing the EU consensus on the sanctions against Putin’s Russia. In June 2015, Mayer claimed that the sanctions and other EU measures “caused further harm to the European economy and thus to EU citizens.” Explaining his resistance to the EP resolution on the “strategic military situation in the Black Sea Basin following the unlawful annexation of Crimea by Russia” on 11 June 2015, Mayer stated that the resolution was “completely unbalanced and one-sided” that would “only direct to an aggravation of the conflict” [between Russia and Ukraine].
Talking at the Styrian parliament on 15 October 2019, Mayer hailed the end of the ascension negotiations with Turkey and indirectly criticized EU sanctions against Russia: “You impose brutal sanctions against Russia, but still negotiate about the EU membership of Turkey.”
Moreover, when the EP voted in June 2018 on the resolution that demanded the Russian authorities to instantly and unconditionally release Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov and all other illegally imprisoned Ukrainian citizens in Russia and on the Crimean Peninsula, Mayer refrained during the vote, thus rebelling against the decision of their Identity and Democracy group to vote against the resolution.
Mayer also refrained during the vote on the EP resolution on the “recent actions by the Russian Federation against Lithuanian judges, prosecutors, and investigators concerned in investigating the tragic events on 13 January 1991 in Vilnius” – a resolution that was not in the stakes of Putin’s Russia.
In 2020 and 2021, Mayer did not focus on any geopolitical issues. On social media, he specifically commented on migration policies. He condemned Turkey with his fellow FPÖ MEPs but did not post anything related to Russia or China.
The embargo on aluminum imports from Russia was recently discussed as part of preparing the 13th package of anti-Russian sanctions. Georg Mayer expressed this opinion that it can negatively impact European industry, and he again opposed the sanctions on Russia.
