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EU Foreign Ministers Meet Tsikhanouskaya, Weigh Lukashenka Sanctions

By RFE/RL September 21, 2020

European Union foreign ministers have met with Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya as they consider whether to impose sanctions on dozens of Belarusian officials, possibly including President Alyaksandr Lukashenka, over abuses against ongoing postelection protests and electoral fraud that gave the authoritarian leader a landslide victory in an election last month.

Belarus has been rocked by mass protests ever since August 9, when Lukashenka was declared the winner of a presidential vote that the opposition and Western countries deemed rigged.

EU foreign-policy chief Josep Borrell said after the meeting with Tsikhanouskaya on September 21 that the ministers "are really impressed by the courage and perseverance of the Belarusian people, especially Belarusian women who show a real sense of leadership.”

Borrell also rejected allegations from Belarus and its ally, Russia, of European interference in the country saying that “this cannot be regarded as interference in internal affairs because democracy and human rights are at the core of the identity of the European Union.”

Borrell said the ministers will also weigh what support they can give to the Belarusian people, and the kind of relations the 27-nation bloc should have with Minsk given that “we don’t recognize Lukashenka as the legitimate president of Belarus.”

The EU has put together a list of about 40 people it could sanction with asset freezes and travel bans in response to the crackdown.

The bloc has not yet made a decision whether the list should include Lukashenka, who has repressed the opposition and independent news media during 26 years in power and refuses to talk with the protesters.

Speaking after meeting Tsikhanouskaya over breakfast, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said “the violence that Lukashenka is exerting against peaceful demonstrators is completely unacceptable.”

Maas, whose country currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency, said the ministers must “ask ourselves the question of whether Mr. Lukashenka, the one who bears the main responsibility, mustn’t also be sanctioned by the European Union.”

If the Belarus sanctions issue is not settled by EU foreign ministers, diplomats say it will likely be taken up at a EU summit on September 24-25.

The meeting in Brussels came a day after Belarusian police detained hundreds of protesters during a sixth weekend of nationwide rallies against Lukashenka.

More than 100,000 people attended the rally in Minsk, defying police warnings not to assemble. Protests were held in several other Belarusian cities.

Police have arrested an estimated 12,000 people since the protests began. They have also tortured hundreds of those detained, sparking outrage in the West.

One roadblock to the list of sanctions against Belarus has been Cyprus, which for its support is demanding the EU also take measures against Turkey in an unrelated dispute over Ankara’s maritime gas exploration activities in the eastern Mediterranean.

The EU can only impose sanctions if all the 27 members of the bloc support them.

The impasse created by one of the bloc’s smallest members threatens the credibility of the EU and has sharpened calls for the use of a qualified majority on human rights and sanctions implementation.

In her State of the Union speech on September 16, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen bemoaned that EU diplomacy was often paralyzed by a system that gives one country veto power over all the others.

While the EU has backed Cyprus and Greece's claims that Turkey’s strongarm tactics are illegal, Germany is trying to find a diplomatic compromise between Athens and Ankara as military tensions between the two NATO members heat up in the eastern Mediterranean.

German officials say sanctioning Turkey is likely to backfire by provoking a strong response from Ankara, a Middle East heavyweight whose cooperation is needed on refugee issues and resolving the conflicts in Syria and Libya.

If the Belarus sanctions impasse is not settled by EU foreign ministers, diplomats say it will likely be taken up at an EU summit on September 24-25.

With reporting by dpa and Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/eu-foreign -ministers-seek-to-overcome-gridlock -on-belarus-sanctions/30849474.html

Copyright (c) 2020. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.