In a plenary debate on the situation in Belarus with High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, on Tuesday 8 June, MEPs called for further sanctions against the regime and immediate support for civil society.
Petras Auštrevičius (Renew Europe, Lithuania) said the EU should contain the regime by imposing a “wide range of sectoral sanctions”. For the Greens/EFA, Viola von Cramon-Taubadel (Germany) mentioned the financial sector, oil or fertilisers. “There are many things we can do to stop Lukashenko’s sources of international funding. We have to target his wallet so that he can no longer pay the security forces, we owe it to the Belarusian people”, she explained.
“We must adopt dissuasive sanctions that hit the regime, but not the population”, warned Italy’s Fabio Massimo Castaldo, speaking on behalf of the non-attached Members. But for Helmut Scholz (The Left, Germany), the fourth package of sanctions, “the 4th round of restrictions, will have no short and medium term effects and will affect the whole population”.
The High Representative explained that sanctions against “all those involved in the hijacking” of the Ryanair plane should be adopted by written procedure “in the coming days”. According to him, the next Foreign Affairs Council, on 21 June, should adopt the economic sanctions which will target “critical” sectors of the Belarusian economy, “provided that the (preparatory) work is finished”. He hoped for unity among the EU-27 on these measures.
While Europeans should focus their sanctions on Alexander Lukashenko - whom he called a “Dictator” - and his accomplices, and avoid affecting ordinary citizens, Mr Borrell acknowledged that “you can’t make an omelette without breaking some eggs”.
Strengthening support for civil society
MEPs also gave their support to civil society. For Robert Biedroń (S&D, Poland), the Union must send a clear message to civil society, against this “last Dictator in Europe”. “In addition to sanctions, we must have a plan to support the opposition so that it is not alone, so that hope does not disappear”, he said.
While the European Commission presented a three billion investment plan for a democratic Belarus (see EUROPE 12729/14), Mr Auštrevičius said that not only promises should be made, but that real-time support for civil society was needed. He also called for the launch of a high-level conference on democratic Belarus, an idea that seemed to appeal to the High Representative.
“We must attend the trial of all activists, we must support the independent media, because Belarusian citizens are cut off from all independent information”, added Andrzej Halicki (EPP, Poland), saying that the only place Mr Lukashenko should be was in the International Criminal Court. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)