Paris urges Nicosia to not link the EU sanctions on Belarus with its action against Turkey amid Eastern Mediterranean tensions and stop preventing the EU from sanctioning Belarusian officials amid the current political crisis, French Minister for European Affairs Clement Beaune said in an interview with the Politico newspaper
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd September, 2020) Paris urges Nicosia to not link the EU sanctions on Belarus with its action against Turkey amid Eastern Mediterranean tensions and stop preventing the EU from sanctioning Belarusian officials amid the current political crisis, French Minister for European Affairs Clement Beaune said in an interview with the Politico newspaper.
The EU does not recognize the results of the presidential election in Belarus of August 9, which saw President Alexander Lukashenko entering his sixth term. The leaders of the bloc have discussed sanctions on some 40 Belarusian officials who are believed to be behind the vote's falsification and violence against protesters during the post-election rallies. Beaune told Politico that Cyprus, which is currently in the middle of a scandal over Turkey's drilling in the Mediterranean, is the only country in the bloc opposing the Belarus sanctions, as it demands that punitive measures against Ankara be first enforced.
"I was clear on that yesterday ... with my Cypriot colleagues saying, 'OK, you should unlock the Belarus sanctions, because I think you are not doing a favor to yourself by creating this link,'" Beaune said.
He suggested that Cyprus' hesitation to approve sanctions against Belarus had been caused by its doubts over the EU support in the face of "Turkish provocations."
The Nicosia-Ankara tensions have been caused by Turkey's gas exploration drilling in the region that Cyprus and Greece claim as their exclusive economic zones.
According to Politico, several EU officials have denounced Paris's support to Nicosia, saying that it strengthened the deadlock in Belarus sanctions matter as it propped the sanctions link pursued by Cyprus. Beaune has denied that France had a role in the creation of this link.
