Foreign ministers meeting: EU seeks the right way to deal with Belarus

One focus of the two-day meeting of EU foreign ministers starting today: The EU’s response to Belarus’ blackmail attempts at the border. It gets tricky when dealing with charter flights to Minsk.

Ethiopia, Libya, Nicaragua, Afghanistan: the list of international trouble spots with which the EU has to deal is long. At the top of the agenda, however, is still a conflict in the immediate vicinity, namely in Belarus.

“Head of a state smuggling ring”

The EU foreign ministers must soberly note that the situation in Belarus has not improved since the rigged elections a year ago – despite all the sanctions and attempts to isolate the regime around ruler Alexander Lukashenko. Human rights are still being violated, opponents of the government suppressed and journalists harassed. And the Belarusian ruler continues to have refugees flown in from the Middle East and North Africa in order to then send them on to Poland, Latvia or Lithuania.

“Lukashenko is nothing more than the head of a state smuggling ring,” said Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas. “And we are no longer ready to watch that there are also companies – airlines – that also make money with it.” Maas calls for sanctions.

Curb flights to Minsk – but how?

Above all, the states that share a border with Belarus are pushing for a hard line. The Latvian Foreign Minister Edgar Rinkevics, for example, demands that Belarusian tour operators and the state airline Belavia be placed on the EU sanctions list so that the airline no longer receives technical support and is cut off from international connecting flights.

In addition, the EU should ensure that as far as possible no flights with migrants on board to Belarus start, says Lithuania’s chief diplomat Gabrielius Landsbergis: “The European Union has already taken some steps and stopped flights from Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon, but they are already there new connections to Minsk have been taken up again. “

Many of these flights are handled with leased aircraft. The aircraft are often rented through Ireland. Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney is skeptical about sanctions for existing leasing contracts and points to possible legal problems. But there shouldn’t be any new rental business, he assures.

“Eastern Partnership” is on hold

Belarus is part of the so-called Eastern Partnership, with which the EU wants to bind its neighboring countries more closely. The contacts are on hold. Further sanctions against the regime are being prepared. Brussels has stopped a three billion euro investment pact for the time being. The money should only flow in when Head of State Lukashenko clears the way for new elections.

Cooperation with Georgia, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Ukraine, on the other hand, is to be expanded. Romania’s Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu says it is about support in the fight against corona, political reforms and economic development.

In December, the heads of state and government of the European Union and the countries of the Eastern Partnership will meet for a summit in Brussels. the Belarusian ruler Lukashenko is not on the guest list.