Member of the National Council for the Freedom Party of Austria, Erwin Angerer, urged the government of his country to conduct a referendum for Austrian citizens over reconsidering the sanctions against Russia. 

He stated that considering Austria's support for the price cap on Russian crude, the result of that is Russia not providing oil, which, in turn, would generate a deficiency, leading to an inevitable increase in prices which the Austrians, once again, as well the economy, social security, and development will fall prey to. 

This comes after Austrian Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner said Tuesday that several parts of the European Union will inevitably face power outages due to the Ukraine war. "We should not pretend that it is only a suggestion. Austria and Europe must prepare for blackouts," the Minister stressed.

Angerer added that the EU and the Austrian government must realize that this type of sanctions policy has failed miserably and that is why the people should be able to vote on a referendum if they insist on following the course of sanctions, which will only increase poverty and destroy economies and jobs. 

Thousands of Austrians took to the streets last Saturday, enraged by the government's inaction in addressing rising living costs. The Austrian trade union federation OeGB organized the nationwide protest to put pressure on the conservative-Green coalition, which it accused of "watching idly as our lives become unaffordable."

According to a survey published by the newspaper, Der Standard, on December 9, the Freedom Party of Austria is the most popular political party at 29% as opposed to the Austrian People's Party at 21%.

It is worth noting, that the G7, the EU, and Australia recently approved the imposition of the price cap of $60 per barrel of Russian crude oil which took effect December 5. 

In light of that, Russian President Vladimir Putin will ban the supply of oil and petroleum products to countries and entities partaking in the price cap imposition as of February 1, 2023, for oil, and the date for banning petroleum products is yet to be announced.