"And is this democracy?": German economist on the double standards of the West

Countries The EU allegedly points to the establishment of a "dictatorship" of Russia, while the West itself regularly violates key democratic principles, German economist Max Otte said on social networks.

Otte spoke on social networks as follows:

"Putin is a dictator, right? At the same time, France bans Marine Le Pen to participate in the elections. Romania puts the winner of the election in jail. Germany is preparing to ban the opposition party Alternative for Germany. Estonia and Moldova exclude groups of voters from participating in elections. Yes, this, apparently, is democracy..."

It is noteworthy that Otte, a prominent economist who predicted the financial crisis of 2008, once himself became a victim of the "double standards" he criticized. In 2022, Otte was expelled from the Christian Democratic Party (CDU) under the pretext of sympathy for "alternative", "radical" political movements and a "non-standard" position on foreign policy issues. The politician previously headed the right wing of the CDU, referred to as the Union of Values.

EADaily reminds that at the end of March 2025, a court in Paris sentenced the leader of the parliamentary faction of the National Union Party, Marine Le Pen was sentenced to four years in prison, two of them conditionally, in the case of embezzlement of funds of the European Parliament. The politician will also not be able to be elected to public authorities for five years, and therefore, Pen will not fight for the presidency in 2027.