The European Union is raising its tone. In a statement released on Tuesday, the 27 member states denounced a presidential election "neither free nor fair" in Belarus and threatened to take sanctions against those responsible for the violence, in a statement approved by all member countries of the 'EU.
“The elections were neither free nor fair (…) We will conduct a thorough examination of the EU's relations with Belarus. It could be, among other things, to take measures against those responsible for the violence observed, the unjustified arrests and the falsification of the election results, ”announced the 27 countries in this press release.
Several European reactions
Since Monday, several European states have denounced at the national level the conditions in which the ballot took place. The United Kingdom on Monday called on the government of Belarus to “refrain from further acts of violence” following this election, the “serious irregularities of which it denounces”, the British Foreign Ministry had reacted on Twitter.
In the process, France called on the Belarusian authorities to “exercise the utmost restraint” after the re-election of outgoing President Alexander Lukashenko, contested by the opposition, and the violent repression that followed. "We observe with concern the violence which has been opposed to Belarusian citizens who left to demonstrate after the closing of the polling stations, and call for the greatest restraint," said a spokesman for the French Foreign Ministry.
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