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EU leaders meeting in Brussels on Thursday and Friday will try to “break the ice” and show that the bloc can agree on foreign policy.
“Convenient overlay”
A special meeting of the European Council was scheduled for late last week but was officially postponed due to communication between EVS President Charles Michel and the security guard assigned to COVID-19. It is true that the president himself had a negative result, but said that he had chosen to follow Belgian rules and isolate himself.
However, it was said in Brussels that this was a “convenient coincidence” because EU foreign ministers failed to agree on sanctions against the Belarusian regime that week, blocked by Cyprus, which wants the same EU action against Turkey.
Had the EVS failed to persuade Cyprus (which is very likely), it would have been threatened by one of the biggest EU fiascos or, as diplomats have bluntly put it, face to face. After all, in August, EU leaders agreed that sanctions should be introduced, which would be more of a demonstration of political principles of the position than an actual impact on the regime and would apply to 30-40 people in the environment of Lukashenko.
If the EVS had failed to persuade Cyprus, it would have been threatened with one of the biggest fiascos in the EU or, as diplomats have said, with its face to the ground.
Formal agenda
Now the ice cream is expected to move. The EVS director sent an invitation letter to EU leaders on Tuesday, outlining the planned topics and agenda for the meeting.
The meeting will start at 3 pm Before Brussels time (4 pm Lithuanian time), Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda will traditionally meet with the leaders of the Nordic and Baltic countries to discuss common positions.
At the start of EVS, there will be an exchange of views with David Sassoli, President of the European Parliament, and there will likely be stalled negotiations between the Council and the European Parliament on the EU budget and the Recovery Plan. According to Charles Michel, in the first working session, EU leaders will discuss EU-China relations. Recently (September 14) a video meeting of leaders of the EU and China took place.
Only at the end of the session is it planned to pay attention to important issues for Lithuania: the events in Belarus, the poisoning of Alexei Navaln and the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.
I believe that the EU must do much more than it has done so far. Since August 19. It has been a month and a half since the Council of Europe, but we still do not have a sanctions list.
For dinner, the situation in the eastern Mediterranean, that is, the conflict between Cyprus and Greece and Turkey. As you know, these countries are calling for sanctions against Turkey. And Cyprus has even blocked sanctions against the Alexander Lukashenko regime (some 30 people on the sanctions list) until such measures are taken against Ankara.
“To protect the legitimate interests of the EU and its member states, all possible options will be considered”, Ch. Michelis.
He also states that the head of the EVS with the EU leaders wants to discuss how to strengthen the strategic autonomy of the EU while maintaining a competitive social market economy. It will be Friday morning for that. The last item on the EVS agenda is the negotiations on Brexit relations with the UK, which are also known to be stalled. The EVS is also likely to address the rule of law mechanism, which is particularly opposed by Poland and Hungary.
By the way, a meeting of the President of Lithuania, together with the Prime Ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Poland, with the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, is scheduled for Friday morning.
Lithuania is “pushing” the Belarus issue
On the eve of EVS, on Wednesday, the President of Lithuania with Ch. Michel spoke by phone and reiterated the issue of sanctions against Belarus. According to the press release of the Presidency, G. Nausėda requested the inclusion of this issue in the final conclusions of the EVS. The President of Lithuania also reminded the President of EVS of the issue of the commissioning of the Astravas nuclear power plant, which does not meet the requirements of the EU stress tests, that the discussion of this issue and decision-making of the EU is required before the plant begins to operate.
Gypsy Naus Gda
“The situation in Belarus is deteriorating, human rights violations continue, people are detained and tortured. Lukashenko’s regime is unwilling to cooperate and find a way to engage in dialogue with civil society. In this situation, I think the EU must do much more than it has done so far. Since August 19. It has been a month and a half since the Council of Europe, but we still do not have a sanctions list, “Nausėda said when she arrived at the building. from the EVS in Brussels on Thursday afternoon. decision in principle to impose sanctions on Belarus “.
These names indicate that the regime is not prepared to act according to democratic rules and this regime uses 20th century methods. We cannot tolerate that.
In a nearly 4-minute speech, the president also suggested that the EU consider a “post-Lukashenko period”, that is, to ensure that Belarusians receive economic and financial assistance, access to the EU market and a visa-free regime.
“Russia and other countries must not interfere in the internal affairs of Belarus,” Nausėda said, adding that he supports Russia’s dialogue with Moscow, but that this dialogue must be based on “fair rules.”
“In cases like the Navaln poisoning, I have a strange feeling of ‘deja vu’.” I remember Anna Politkovskaya, Boris Nemtsov, Kara-Murz. And these names show that the regime is not prepared to act according to democratic rules and this regime uses 20th century methods. We cannot tolerate that ”, concluded the President, adding that the dialogue must be two-way.
European council
© Sipa / Scanpix
No optimization, but hope
However, EU officials are not optimistic about sanctions against the Belarusian regime. “You know what the situation is now,” a senior EU official said on Wednesday. Later he added that a solution was not expected because “the objective is to break the ice.” In other words, the leaders of the member states and the EU will try to persuade Cyprus to accept the sanctions, and the decision will continue to be made at the level of non-EU leaders, all the more so because everything is ready for that. So far, Cyprus is said to be completely reluctant to give up.
Therefore, it is likely that most of the speeches at the EVS meeting will revolve around Turkey and that the discussions on the strategic autonomy of the EU will remain philosophical considerations.
According to politico.eu, the draft conclusions of the EVS meeting, however, mention Belarus: condemning the violence against peaceful protesters, saying that the EVS does not recognize the election results, but not the regime itself, without mention the Coordination Council formed by the opposition.
According to a senior EU official, the conclusions of the EVS meeting will also call for an end to the bloodshed in Nagorno-Karabakh and for third countries not to intervene in the conflict. This last point is undoubtedly directed at Turkey, which does not even hide its support for Azerbaijan. Therefore, it is likely that most of the speeches at the EVS meeting will revolve around Turkey and that the discussions on the strategic autonomy of the EU will remain philosophical considerations.
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