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The path for EU sanctions against supporters of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is clear after a week of lockdown. On Friday night at the EU summit in Brussels, Cyprus withdrew its veto on planned punitive measures after the summit decided to maintain threats of sanctions against Turkey in the Mediterranean Sea gas dispute. According to the President of the Council, Charles Michel, the measures against Minsk should come into force immediately.
With the sanctions, the EU wants to put additional pressure on the leadership in Belarus and send a signal of solidarity with the people of the country. Since the presidential elections on August 9, there have been protests and strikes in the former Soviet republic against the authoritarian head of state Lukashenko, who has been in power for 26 years.
According to the current state of planning, the EU sanctions are intended to affect 40 people accused of participating in electoral fraud or violently suppressing peaceful protests. Lukashenko himself should not initially be among them. The reason is that this could complicate diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict and deprive the EU of the opportunity to adjust its course again.
The sanctions plans were recently blocked because Cyprus had linked its approval to the European Union imposing new sanctions on Turkey as well. Cyprus and Greece have long called on the EU to respond more dramatically to Turkish gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean that they consider illegal. However, other states believe this could hamper ongoing mediation efforts. They want to wait before accepting new sanctions against Turkey.
The summit now agreed that the EU will maintain its threats of sanctions against Turkey. In the case of further unilateral measures by Ankara, all possible instruments and options should be used, as the conclusions show. At the same time, the EU promises Turkey, among other things, that it will continue to work to expand the customs union if the situation calms down in the long term.
With this formula, the EU states are reacting to the fact that while there have recently been several signs of detente in the conflict between Turkey and Greece, not in the dispute between Turkey and Cyprus. Greece and Cyprus have long called for more support from EU partners due to Turkey’s gas exploration. Angered by the EU’s reluctance to apply more sanctions so far, Cyprus had blocked planned EU sanctions against high-ranking supporters of Belarusian head of state Alexander Lukashenko. Only the clear attachment to the threats of sanctions moved the country to give in at the summit.
After the agreement, a written procedure for the formal decision must follow immediately, Michel told a press conference after the first day of the special EU summit. That is a clear sign of the credibility of the EU. The head of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, added that she was glad that the path for sanctions was finally clear.
Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) was equally pleased that there were “clear threats of sanctions against Turkey for the first time” if it “continues to violate international law”. This is an “important sign of solidarity with Greece and Cyprus”, but it is also necessary to show Turkey that the EU is ready to react decisively if Turkey does not change its behavior, Kurz said.
Those: Apa / Ag.
