EU diplomat: The EU has "informally agreed" to launch military sanctions against Belarus | Türkiye | military | diplomat | negotiation | Belarus | sanctions | EU
EU diplomats have revealed that EU countries have informally agreed to launch military sanctions against Belarus on July 18th. Another Russian media reported that the European Commission said that Türkiye could not join the EU in 2024.
On July 18th, the US political news website POLITICO quoted three EU diplomats as saying that EU countries had "informally agreed" to launch a package of military sanctions against Belarus that day. Two of the diplomats stated that the sanctions plan will restrict military equipment, including aviation components, and the specific sanctions will be similar to those against Russia, with the aim of blocking the supply of military product components from Belarus to Russia.
The above-mentioned EU diplomats also stated that this round of sanctions will lay the foundation for achieving broader and more global sanctions against Belarus.
POLITICO reported that the European Union is also in talks on how to fully synchronize sanctions against Belarus with sanctions against Russia. However, due to disagreements over whether to sanction Belarusian fertilizers, negotiations were once deadlocked. Most EU countries support not imposing sanctions on Belarusian fertilizers, but Lithuania believes that this exception will provide Belarusian President Lukashenko with "life-saving straw" and has limited effectiveness in responding to the food crisis.
Two of the diplomats said that military sanctions against Belarus were only passed after EU officials linked this issue to the post Cotonou Agreement aimed at strengthening EU relations with African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries.
According to reports, negotiations for the renewal of the Post Cotonou Agreement have been stalled due to obstacles from Poland. But by bundling these two negotiations together, Spain, the rotating presidency of the European Union responsible for advancing the negotiations, was able to allow the Eastern Wing countries of the EU to join and ultimately achieve consensus among member states in both negotiations.
According to EU diplomats, the European Commission may send a sanctions text to EU diplomats as early as July 19th, and military sanctions against Belarus may be approved next week.
In addition, the Russian News reported on July 19 that the European Commission said to it that Türkiye could not join the European Union in 2024. Peter Starno, spokesman for EU foreign affairs, said that joining the EU "takes years, not hours", and the EU is not even ready to grant Türkiye visa free treatment, because visa free countries must meet the necessary EU standards, including human rights and political freedom. The European Parliament also said to the News that it was pointless to resume "accession" negotiations with Türkiye.