On 21 June 2021, Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg attended the EU Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) in Luxembourg, the last to be chaired by the current Portuguese Presidency. Along with the EU’s relations with Turkey and Russia, the situation in Belarus was a central topic of the discussions. Before the main session got underway, Alexander Schallenberg also had the opportunity to meet with Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya.
The EU Foreign Ministers agreed upon a comprehensive new package of sanctions on Belarus, targeted against supporters of the Lukashenko regime. The new restrictions target Belarus’s potash and fertiliser industries, as well as its petroleum producers and financial services sector.
Foreign Minister Schallenberg emphasised the need for carefully targeted sanctions that would hit those responsible for repression in Belarus without damaging civil society in the country.
After what was a cold-blooded act of state-sponsored airborne piracy, we need to tighten the thumbscrews on Belarus, but we don’t want to punish ordinary Belarusians by doing so. The point is to use economic sanctions in order to target the right people,
Alexander Schallenberg said.
Foreign Minister Schallenberg also underlined his clear support for Belarusian civil society once again, adding that:
Austria is one of the countries most committed to dialogue with Belarusian civil society. As we impose economic sanctions, we need to be careful not to make this dialogue more difficult. Sanctions have to be justified and watertight. They need to be targeted like a surgical intervention, one that hits the regime without damaging civil society.
The EU has always shown a united front on Belarus. All its resolutions on the issue have been unanimous, and this latest one was no exception. As Foreign Minister Schallenberg made clear:
When the rule of law and human rights are being trampled upon, there can be no question of returning to business as usual. At the same time, we must not harm the ordinary people who are the victims of this situation.
In the margins of the main Council, the EU Foreign Ministers also took the opportunity to hold talks with the Iraqi Foreign Minister, Fuad Hussein.
