On Wednesday 26 May, the Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya once again criticised the attitude of the Belarusian regime, calling her country the European North Korea.
“Lukashenko has turned my country into a non-transparent, unpredictable, and dangerous European North Korea”, she explained before the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Recalling that in recent days, in addition to the hijacking of an airliner and the arrest of Roman Protasevich, a political prisoner had died in prison in unclear circumstances, the forthcoming national elections had been postponed by a year and a half until the end of 2023, and the main independent media outlet, TUT.BY had been blocked, Ms Tikhanovskaya called on the international community to respond to the situation as a whole.
“The EU’s previous ‘wait and see’ strategy did not work. Sanctions against the regime are not working, pressure from the EU has failed to change behaviour and instead, has created a sense of impunity”, she said.
Even though Ms Tikhanovskaya welcomed the European Council’s announcement of new measures (see EUROPE 12725/1), she called on the EU to go further. In her opinion, the EU should refuse any financial support requested by the regime, refrain from making new investments and granting new credit lines to Belarusian banks, or impose a ban on importing wood or metal from Belarus.
Ms Tikhanovskaya also called on the EU to launch a high-level crisis resolution conference without delay, but also for its support plan for a democratic Belarus “to send a clear signal to Belarusians that the EU cares about the future relationship with the country”. According to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, this plan could reach 3 billion euros.
The opposition leader also called on the EU to strengthen its support for civil society by renewing links with it, supporting independent media, and developing programmes to rehabilitate repressed Belarusians and their families. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)