Poland, France and Germany call for tougher Belarus sanctions
PR dla Zagranicy
Peter Gentle
21.05.2011 08:50
At a meeting of the Weimar Triangle group of nations in Bydgoszcz, northern Poland, Friday, ministers Alain Juppé of France, Guido Westerwelle of Germany and Poland’s Radek Sikorski called for tougher sanction to be imposed by the EU against the Lukashenko regime in Belarus.
From the left: Guido Westerwelle, Radoslaw Sikorski, Alain Juppé . Photo: PAP/Tytus Żmijewski
“The repression of the opposition in Belarus must be condemned and specific sanctions should be implemented,” Radek Sikorski said yesterday, referring to the wave of arrests that followed protests against what were regarded internationally as rigged results of the 19 December presidential elections in Belarus, which declared a fourth term for Aleksander Lukashenko.
A meeting of EU foreign ministers last Monday in Brussels is thought to have agreed to broaden already implemented sanctions against the Lukashenko regime in Minsk, including travel bans and the freezing of assets of those involved in the imprisonment of opposition leaders and protestors.
There is a split with the 27 nation bloc, however, whether to impose economic sanctions against Belarus, prohibiting exports of key companies including in the oil sector.
The meeting of foreign ministers of the so-called Weimar Triangle - named after a diplomatic agreement between Poland, France and Germany after the fall of the communist regime in Poland in 1989 - comes just weeks before Poland takes over the six-month EU rotating presidency.
President Komorowski said during his election campaign for head of state last summer that tightening ties with Paris and Berlin would be a key policy goal during his term of office.
Radek Sikorski and Guido Westerwelle are in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, Saturday, where they will be having talks with their Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. (pg)