Brussels imposes further sanctions on Belarus
PR dla Zagranicy
John Beauchamp
23.03.2012 15:58
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EU-Belarus relations take a turn for the worse? Michał Kubicki interviews Jacek Protasiewicz, Deputy Head of the European Parliament and Head of the EU delegation to Belarus.
EU foreign ministers, including Poland's Radek Sikorski, extended sanctions against Belarus, Friday.
Before the meeting, it was announced that the EU wants to blacklist 29 Belarusian companies belonging to three businessmen who are known to be supportive of President Aleksander Lukashenko and his regime.
The extension to the sanctions are an answer by Brussels to the recent eviction of Polish and EU ambassadors from Minsk last month.
Jacek Protasiewicz (pictured left), the European Parliament’s Vice President and head of the EU’s delegation to Belarus, told Polish Radio’s Michal Kubicki that he agrees that sanctions towards Belarus have been ineffective.
“So far, those sanctions were mainly of a political nature,” Protasiewicz says, commenting on a visa ban for members of the Belrausian government travelling to the EU.
However, after considerations to impose economic sanctions against Minsk, the regime there has “become nervous”, which in Protasiewicz’s opinion means that “these [economic] sanctions can prove to be more painful” for the Lukashenko regime. (jb)
Audio by Michal Kubicki