The meeting held between EU foreign ministers in Berlin on Thursday and Friday was informal and not intended to lead to concrete decisions, but there was still great agreement on the situation in Belarus and sanctions against its regime, says Linde.
- With regard to Belarus, the Heads of State and Government have confirmed that the EU will draw up a list of sanctions, and we discussed just that. Everyone agreed that we should, of course, do so, and there should also be sanctions at a high political level. We also agreed, after a long discussion, that we need to produce the list as quickly as possible, says Linde who does not want to go into more detail on which people can end up on it.
Belarus is threatening to respond with the same means to the outside world in the face of sanctions against the country. President Alexander Lukashenko says, for example, that it may be necessary to block goods transport routes, reports the state news agency Belta.
"Considering the offer"Sweden and Albania have previously offered to help mediate between the regime in Belarus and the opposition. The opposition has said yes, according to Linde, while the regime is still considering the offer.
- At the same time as I was in Berlin, my colleague and also the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, was in Vienna at a special meeting that is just about this. Some form of response is that the offer from Albania and Sweden is still being considered, but that it is not relevant at the moment. The regime has not closed the door, but it has not been welcomed either, says Linde.