Poland is disappointed with the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the European Union as work on EU sanctions against Belarus has stalled, Andrzej Sadoś, the Polish ambassador to the EU has told PAP.
EU sanctions against Belarus for supporting Russian aggression against Ukraine and for the persecution of opponents of the Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko’s regime, were announced by the European Commission head, Ursula von der Leyen, in early January this year.
According to the Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Russia’s declaration to station nuclear weaponry in Belarus should also result in a new package of sanctions on Belarus.
But on Monday, Sadoś told PAP that work on EU sanctions against Belarus had reached a dead end in Brussels and many EU countries do not hide their disappointment with the passivity of the Swedish presidency, which is responsible for their coordination.
“The Swedes practically do nothing in this matter,” Sadoś argued.
According to unofficial information obtained by PAP, some Western European countries are behind the stall, and they want the adoption of new sanctions against Minsk to be accompanied by the removal of the previously adopted restrictions on import of certain potash fertilisers.
Poland and the Baltic States are among the countries which oppose any loosening of the restrictions.
“We hoped that the Scandinavian presidency would be ambitious as far as the eastern dimension is concerned. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen,” Sadoś said.
“We were very disappointed with this lack of ambition as it comes to sanctions against Belarus, which are so needed because of the persecution of the opposition in this country, involvement in the war on Russia’s side, as well as plans to deploy nuclear weapons on its territory,” he added.
Source : THEfirstNEWS
