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EU foreign ministers agree to suspend sanctions against Belarus

At their meeting in Luxembourg on Monday, the European Union’s foreign ministers agreed to provisionally suspend the bloc’s restrictive measures against the Belarusian authorities.

The ministers agreed to suspend sanctions against Belarus after the presidential election won by Alyaksandr Lukashenka passed off without incident, Agence France-Presse reported with reference to French Foreign Minister Harlem Desir.

“We have taken the decision to suspend the sanctions for the next four months, but they can be reinstated immediately if that is required,” Mr. Desir said, adding that they would be reviewed at the end of that period.

“For the next four months, there is the decision to suspend the sanction,” Mr. Desir said, according to the DPA. He said that the decision “allows us at any moment, if we see there is a step back, to reestablish the sanctions.”

Mr. Desir reportedly said that the presidential election in Belarus had taken place “in the most transparent and calm way possible.”

However, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier noted that the election “naturally” did not meet international standards.

Nevertheless, according to Reuters, Mr. Steinmeier said that the apparent lack of repression against political groups opened the way for sanctions to be suspended for four months.

"There have been changes in Belarus, compared to the two past elections," Mr. Steinmeier said. "If Belarus stays on this path, there is a willingness, and there is unanimity on this, to change the relationships with Belarus.”

Mr. Steinmeier said that the sanctions would be lifted on January 1, 2016, and that the decision would only apply to people targeted for political reasons.

The EU’s restrictive measures are expected to remain in place against the Belarusian individuals suspected of involvement in the disappearance of Mr. Lukashenka’s political opponents in 1999 and 2000.

When reached by BelaPAN, Maja Kocijancic, spokesperson for the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, said that although the Belarus issue was not discussed by the EU Foreign Affairs Council, the high representative, Federica Mogherini, made reference to the presidential election in her report to the ministers. “The decision on the future of the sanctions needs to be taken by the end of October,” Ms. Kocijancic said.

A total of 175 individuals, including Mr. Lukashenka, are currently subject to entry bans and all of them plus 18 economic entities are subject to asset freezes within the EU.

The Foreign Affairs Council drew up the blacklist in January 2011, following a brutal police crackdown on a post-election protest in Minsk. The list was repeatedly extended and included as many as 243 Belarusian individuals and 32 business entities at one point.