EP Plenary: Speech by High Representative/Vice-President Josep Borrell on the relations with Belarus
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Dear President, Honourable Members of the European Parliament,
Let me thank the Rapporteur, Mr [Petras] Auštrevičius, for the report and for keeping the situation in Belarus high on the agenda of this Parliament.
As your report points out, Belarusian people continue to be exposed to systemic human rights violations by the Lukashenko regime. Around 1,500 political prisoners are detained in appalling conditions. They are exposed to ill-treatment and torture, without access to essential health services. Many political prisoners have been kept for months without contacts with the outside world. Arbitrary arrests and detentions continue.
The regime has also stepped up repression against exiled Belarusians. Last week, Lukashenko signed a decree denying Belarusians who live abroad the right to replace their passports, or sell properties from outside the country.
Furthermore, the regime remains a threat to regional and international security. It is Russia’s accomplice in its war of aggression against Ukraine, and it has welcomed criminal Wagner mercenaries since July. It also continues to instrumentalise migration to destabilise the EU borders.
Through these actions, the regime is not only threatening national stability, but also regional stability, and it is selling Belarus’ own sovereignty and independence to Russia.
Let me reaffirm our full solidarity with the Member States that share a border with Belarus, and are confronted with these provocations.
But let me also underline that the regime’s actions will not deter us from supporting the Belarusian people.
Honourable members,
The European Union has stood by the Belarusian people from the first day following the fraudulent elections of August 2020, and will continue to do so.
We have mobilised over €100 million in direct support to victims of repression, human rights defenders, civil society organisations, independent media and journalists.
We have supported students and businesses in exile, as well as initiatives aimed at safeguarding the Belarusian identity, culture and language.
We have called out the regime’s violations in international fora, and we have worked with international partners to create a robust accountability mechanism.
The European Union has also adopted 7 rounds of sanctions, both individual and sectoral, against the regime’s human rights violations and its complicity in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
Last June, High Representative [Josep Borrell] Borrell launched a new consultative group with Belarusian democratic forces and civil society. This new initiative will help shape further EU actions in support of the efforts [of] Belarusian democratic forces and civil society.
I would also like to commend this House, for inviting Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, to address this Chamber tomorrow.
As you correctly call for in your report, the spiral of violence has to end. The Belarusian authorities must engage in a genuine and inclusive dialogue with all elements of society, leading to free and fair elections.
The European Union will continue to stand by the Belarusian people on their path for a free, sovereign and democratic Belarus, as part of a peaceful Europe.
Thank you.
Link to the video (starting from 4:13): https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-244611
Closing remarks
Dear President, Honourable Members,
I think that the debate today demonstrates the overwhelming support of this Parliament to the European Union’s strong reaction against the Lukashenko regime’s repression and its involvement in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
And I concur with your calls that we must and we will continue our strong support to the people of Belarus, in light of the worsening repression of Lukashenko’s regime against its population.
We will continue to call for the immediate and unconditional release and rehabilitation of all political prisoners, and for repression to cease. The European Union will also continue to keep the situation high on the global agenda in the international fora, and to promote efforts aimed at ensuring accountability for perpetrators of human rights violations.
Thank you.
Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-244613