Migrant crisis: EU plans to expand sanctions against Belarus, assures Josep Borrell, chief – franceinfo

New sanctions to come? THEhe High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, announcement, in an interview with Sunday newspaper (JDD) published Sunday, November 14, that new sanctions will be taken on Monday in Brussels against Belarus, accused of instrumentalizing the issue of migrants at the border with Poland.

During the Council of Foreign Ministers of the European Union (EU), “we will give the green light to a widening of the legal framework of our sanctions against Belarus so that it can be applied to all those involved in the smuggling of migrants to this country, for example the airlines or travel agencies involved , by banning their leaders from traveling and freezing their assets in Europe “, To unveiled the head of European diplomacy.

“Lukashenko was wrong. He believed that by retaliating in this way he was going to twist our arm and have the sanctions canceled. Quite the opposite is happening. We are strengthening them by targeting precisely those who cooperate with him. “

Josep borrell

in the “Sunday newspaper”

Josep Borrell also asserted that the European Union continues to “refuse any legitimacy to this regime since we do not recognize President Lukashenko as legitimately elected”. But that does not mean that the dialogue is broken. “Talking is never harmful. We still have a charge d’affaires in Minsk, he assured, the non-recognition of this legitimacy should not prevent us from speaking to each other based on our own interests. “

Faced with the threat of instrumentalization of migratory flows, Josep Borrell addressed to the Twenty-Seven his project of “strategic compass”. For him, Europe must “stop being a hypocrite”. “Obviously there is a Russian threat, otherwise we would not have troops deployed in the Baltic countries. This ‘strategic compass’, I want it to be a catalyst for actions to protect Europe from all threats, he said. Europe is in danger and Europeans do not realize it. “