Italy opposes sanctions against Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and other Belarusian officials, which the EU considers involved in violent actions against protesters in Minsk on December 19. This position was expressed by official Rome at a meeting of high-level diplomats in Brussels on January 7, the EU source.
«They are alone in this matter. Their traditional argument is that such sanctions have never been effective and that it is important to maintain open channels even for bad guys,» a diplomat from the EU commented on the position of the Italian side.
According to another diplomatic saurce, three priorities were identified during the meeting: to release the arrested protesters, to support civil society in Belarus and to make sure that crime perpetrators will be punished. Nevertheless, the meeting participants did not agree over the methods and means to achieve these goals.
«Italy is the most staunch EU opponent of the sanctions. But Spain and Portugal are also very sensitive to this issue. In turn, Germany, Poland, Sweden and Britain, by contrast, say:» We’ve been trying hard to engage Belarus in dialogue, but now we need to respond firmly,» EUobserver.com.
Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Gave No Comments on this Issue.
Meanwhile, the imposition of visa bans on Belarusian officials can be resolved at a meeting of foreign ministers of EU countries on January 31. Meanwhile, European diplomats will continue to discuss this issue at a lower level. The final decision must be made within 10 days according to written procedure or by the foreign ministers of the EU member-countries. The introduction of punitive measures will require the agreement of all 27 EU countries.
As Telegraf previously reported, there is information that Germany stands for the EU sanctions resumption against the Belarusian leadership. The Seim of Lithuania made a similar proposal in its resolution, adopted on December 23. Public figures of Estonia also appealed to their authorities to impose sanctions against the Belarusian leadership.
Meanwhile, the EU imposed visa bans on senior Belarusian officials after the presidential elections in Belarus in 2006, as Brussels considered the election results fraudulent. After the release of political activists from the Belarusian prisons in autumn 2008, EU suspended visa sanctions regime against the majority of Belarusian officials, except for five people: Lidia Yermoshina, Dmitri Pavlichenko, Vladimir Naumov, Viktor Sheiman and Yuri Sivakov.
In April 2009 the EU extended the moratorium on the visa sanctions until the end of 2009, which then was further extended until October 2010. European diplomats agreed on the extension of the visa ban on Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and 41 Belarusian officials in Brussels on October 21, 2010.
The EU statement claims that the European Union is ready for the final lifting of sanctions against senior officials in Belarus only in case of Belarus’ progress on the path of democratic reforms.
