French leader Emmanuelle Macron expects the situation in Belarus to be one of the themes of the forthcoming two-day EU Summit.
France will seek agreement at the EU summit on point targets for sanctions against the leadership of Belarus to encourage “dialogue with the opposition mediated by the OSCE”. This was announced on Thursday by French President Emmanuel Macron on arrival at the EU summit.
“We will be discussing the situation in Belarus, I have been in the Baltic States in recent days, I have met with representatives of the opposition. We will confirm the non-recognition of the results of the presidential elections in Belarus. I support the introduction of targeted sanctions [against members of the country’s leadership] in order to push the authorities to dialogue with the OSCE mediated by the OSCE”, – Maсron said. He added that on Wednesday he discussed the situation in Belarus with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who, according to Makron, “shares the call for dialogue and the possibility of OSCE mediation.
Earlier President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko offered Makron, “following his own principles”, to resign and transfer power to “yellow waistcoats”, with which Belarus is ready to help the French President to establish a dialogue.
The European Union made a fundamental decision to impose personal sanctions against a couple of dozens of top Belarusian officials at the meeting of the EU foreign ministers on August 14, but since then this decision has not been approved. In the EU Council it is blocked by Cyprus, which requires Brussels to introduce tough sanctions against Turkey for geological exploration of gas fields on the disputed shelf in the Mediterranean Sea.