“The European Union is imposing sanctions against further individuals with relation to the presidential elections in Belarus”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó announced on Friday in Berlin.

In a statement to public media in the recess of the informal meeting of EU foreign ministers (Foreign Affairs Council), Mr. Szijjártó highlighted that member states agree with the expansion of the sanctions list. “On this occasion, the EU will be imposing punitive measures on the heads of the Belarusian election committee, and on police leaders who played a major role in action against the protests that began following the presidential elections”, he explained.

“The foreign ministers of the Visegrád Group countries also held a separate meeting, and decided that they will be calling on High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell to not wait until the next formal, official session of the Council scheduled to be held in a month’s time, but to ensure that the list is expanded at the earliest opportunity via a written decision-making procedure”, the Hungarian Foreign Minister said, stressing that uncertainty is not good for anybody and “strongly calls into question the seriousness of the EU”.

The foreign ministers of the V4 member states also agree with the triple approach according to which Belarusian elections must remain within a constitutional framework, in addition to which the sovereignty of Belarus and the will of its people must be respected at all times, while the third main principle states that geopolitical aspects must also be enforced, “in view of the fact that Russia is a neighbour”, Mr. Szijjártó said. “The establishment of a consensus seems possible centred around the role of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) as mediator, in view of the fact that Belarus is also a member of the organisation, and Russia is also involved in the organisation’s work”, he added.

With relation to Russia, Mr. Szijjártó added that relations between the EU and Russia will also be on the agenda of the next official meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council. There remains “a strong level of hypocrisy” with relation to this issue in view of the fact that the EU sanctions introduced against Moscow because of the crisis in Ukraine do not affect member states equally. The largest Western European economies have increased their exports to Russia by almost 25 percent since 2015, while Hungary, for instance, is being negatively affected by the sanctions, but despite this “we have never broken EU unity”, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade underlined.

As he explained, it is important for EU unity to be established with relation to another issue, namely the question of the energy supply of member states. “As a result of the infrastructure situation, historical heritage, geographical location and European prices, Hungary is having to purchase natural gas from Russia, and ‘we shall not accept anybody telling us from where we should purchase natural gas and for how much’. The right to freely decide from where energy sources may be procured in the best, most rapid and most secure manner is one of the fundamental elements of national sovereignty and national security”, Mr. Szijjártó said.

The Minister also mentioned that with relation to the Turkish-Greek and Turkish-Cypriot dispute that has arisen following the discovery of natural gas fields in the Eastern basin of the Mediterranean Sea, which was one of the main topics of discussion at the informal meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council, several member states had warned of the danger of a repeated increase in migration. “A new wave of migration from the direction of Turkey would first pose ‘extreme challenges’ for the Western Balkan countries, following which it would arrive at the Schengen border of the European Union, and represent ‘a huge risk to health’ in view of the coronavirus pandemic”, he declared. “Accordingly, instead of a tough stance with relation to Turkey, the EU should be concentrating on cooperation, because the appearance of four million migrants at the Schengen borders, and practically speaking at Hungary’s southern border, is a phenomenon that must be avoided at all costs”, Mr. Szijjártó stated. He added that a proposal for a possible compromise had been raised, according to which Turkey should be asked to enter into dialogue and to suspend its maritime test drilling. “However, in view of the significance of the issue, it will not be dealt with by the Foreign Affairs Council, but during the upcoming two-day meeting of the European Council, made up of EU heads of state and government, scheduled for 24 September”, he explained.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade/MTI)