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Foreign ministers failed to follow through on Monday’s promise to impose sanctions on dozens of Belarusian officials in connection with the disputed elections and the violent crackdown on protests due to disagreement on how to resolve Turkey’s claims of energy exploration in the eastern Mediterranean.
Cyprus has refused to support sanctions against Belarus if all the other members of the bloc do not agree to extend the EU blacklist against Turkey for its natural gas drilling activities in Cypriot waters.
The EU has called the exploration of Turkish resources off the coast of Cyprus illegal, and now the bloc’s leaders are ready to discuss the issue in Brussels on Thursday.
At a time of regional instability and growing tensions between the United States and China, the EU desperately needs to break out of the stalemate, and this is becoming an overwhelming test of its position.
Decisions on sanctions must be approved unanimously by the 27 members of the bloc.
“Our credibility has hung by the hair,” Josep Borrell, head of community diplomacy, told reporters after the ministerial meeting in Brussels.
“Values and principles”
Although there is unanimous agreement on the need to take appropriate action against Belarus, conflicts of priorities between EU Member States and Member States are hampering the EU’s efforts to pursue a determined foreign policy.
In February this year, the EU announced the asset freeze and travel ban of two Turkish Petroleum Corp. employees in response to exploration of Turkey’s energy resources off the coast of Cyprus.
Cyprus’ proposal to add Turkish natural and legal persons to the blacklist has been postponed since June, as other countries are concerned that such actions could provoke Turkish President Recep Tayyip Edogan, a key partner in both economic affairs and in controlling the flows of migrants from the Middle East to Europe.
Such delays are upsetting Cyprus, which claims that Turkey is encroaching on its sovereign rights in the Mediterranean through its drilling activities.
The Cypriots claim that the delay in imposing sanctions on Turkey runs counter to the agreement reached by the EU foreign ministers in August to speed up both processes at the same time.
“Our response to any violation of our fundamental values and principles cannot be à la carte,” Cypriot Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides said before Monday’s meeting.
Persons subject to sanctions
France said it understood Kirpo’s position, stating that the EU should be “strong” towards Turkey and calling on Ankara to show a gesture of goodwill by withdrawing the drillship from Cypriot waters.
“The options are open,” Clement Beaune, France’s European Affairs minister, told reporters in Brussels on Monday. “It is a test for Europe.”
Beaune said the political situation in the eastern Mediterranean is constantly evolving and rejected a scenario in which an EU agreement on sanctions would be reached as early as this week’s EU summit.
In a separate report on Monday, the EU blacklisted the Turkish company Avrazya Shipping: for alleged violation of the United Nations (UN) arms embargo on Libya.
German officials have expressed concern that Cyprus’ determination to expand the blacklist drawn up in February could hamper efforts to resolve a related dispute between Greece and Turkey over maritime claims in the Aegean.
The two sides have almost agreed to start exploratory talks after a particularly tense summer.
Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Cichanouskaya on Monday called on EU lawmakers to blacklist officials who helped President Lukashenko hamper the “democratic revolution.”
“Belarusians will no longer be hostages of the Lukashenko regime,” Cichanouskaya told a committee in Brussels. “We ask that you stand united with the people of Belarus.”
Patience runs out
Nicosia’s position has the support of some EU countries, but the patience of others is weakening.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius said the failure to agree on sanctions against Belarus undermines the credibility of democratic values.
“The fact that no agreement is reached today on sanctions to support Belarusians suffering and fighting for democracy undermines the credibility of the democratic values they are fighting for,” Linkevičius said on a Twitter account on Monday.
Latvian Foreign Minister Edgaras Rinkevičius wrote on Twitter: This sends the wrong signal to Belarusians, our society and the world. “
For more than a month, there have been unprecedented protests in Belarus over the presidential elections on August 9, which were declared the winners by Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled the country since 1994. The opposition and Western countries consider these elections to be rigged.
Borrell also said that MFA leaders in all EU countries considered the election fraudulent and did not acknowledge the results.
“Not all of us recognize the legitimacy of Lukashenko after a process that we consider a forgery. We consider that these elections are falsified and we do not recognize their result,” he stressed after the meeting of the heads of diplomacy of the EU countries in Brussels.
Mr Borrell added that the Community’s foreign ministers were “asking the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) experts to observe new, free and fair elections.”
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