Brussels, 20/03/2006 (Agence Europe) - The EU agrees with the conclusions of the OSCE observation mission, according to which the presidential elections of 19 March in Belarus “won” by President Alexander Lukachenko with more than 80% of the vote, did not respect international democratic standards. The Austrian Foreign Affairs Minister Ursula Plassnik declared at the end of the General Affairs/External Relations Council on Monday (see other articles) that , “the preliminary OSCE report demonstrates that the elections did not conform with international and democratic norms and standards...We agree with that assessment”. The EU High Representative for CFSP, Javier Solana, said that the OSCE report “speaks for itself”. He stressed the fact that the EU would remain “firm” as long as Belarus' leaders would not allow the country to join the international democratic community. Ms Plassnik informed the press that there had been “arbitrary abuse of state power” and multiple dysfunctions in the election campaign that benefited President Lukachenko, which were “far beyond the acceptable practice”. On Monday, EU25 Foreign Affairs Ministers had still not reached a decision on reinforcing restrictive measures in place against Belarus leaders (bans on coming to the EU, freezing assets etc.) but there was no doubt that additional sanctions would be taken in the next few days and weeks. The discussion on the EU's reaction “includes the possibility of additional measures against people involved in the election fraud” explained Ms Plassnik. The President of the Council said that they needed to think about providing “an adequate response” that targeted the Belarus authorities but not the population, which the EU, on the contrary, wanted to support more than ever. European Commissioner for External Relations, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, also appealed for a strong response from the EU to the authorities in Minsk, declaring that they should “not abandon the people”. During Monday's debate, several Ministers mentioned the possibility of inviting the main Belarus opposition candidate, Alexander Milinkevitch to a meeting with the EU, possibly even at the European Council. These were the proposals but no decision had yet been made, explained Ms Plassnik to journalists. Mr Milinkevitch previously attended the General Affairs/External Relations Council last January.