European Union activates overflight ban for Belarusian airlines
Minsk Airport, Belarus.
VIA REUTERS - HANDOUT
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6 mins
Indignation is spreading in Europe following the broadcast of the video representing Roman Protassevich: a video clearly produced "
under pressure
", according to the Belarusian opponent Svietlana Tsikhanovskaya;
unacceptable images, "
a shame
" according to the German government.
The European Union had qualified as an illegal act the forced landing in Minsk of flight FR4978 Athens-Vilnius on May 23 and recommended the imposition of sanctions against Belarus.
It is now done and Belarusian companies are now banned from the EU;
they no longer have access to European airspace and airports.
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With our correspondent in Brussels,
Pierre Benazet
The decision was taken by the 27 permanent representatives in Brussels, the government ambassadors to the EU.
The measure is applied from this Saturday morning, June 5, unless otherwise stated by a capital which is not envisaged since it is the Heads of State and Government themselves who have recommended it during the week. last.
These measures still had to be finalized by the legal services in order to be unassailable.
The national authorities are therefore now formally requested to refuse the overflight of their territory by a Belarusian plane of any type, freight or passengers, to refuse take-off and landing.
► To read also:
Belarus: the chilling televised “confessions” of Roman Protassevich
88 Belarusians already subject to sanctions
It is therefore the first step for the concretization of these European sanctions;
the 27 are due to add next week a flurry of personal sanctions against eight persons responsible for the hijacking of the Athens-Vilnius flight, and several dozen persons responsible for political repression, namely freezing of assets held in Europe and ban on visa for the EU.
Since the start of the contestation of the presidential election last August, 88 Belarusians have already been subject to European sanctions, including President Alexander Lukashenko.
There should also be sectoral sanctions, for example banning the import of Belarusian potash or the entry into Europe of Russian gas that has passed through Belarus.
Since Wednesday, the European Aviation Safety Agency has required aircraft flying the European flag to no longer enter Belarusian airspace, whereas previously it was content to advise against it.
The association defending the interests of airlines on Friday disagreed with a new retaliatory measure taken against Belarus by the European Aviation Safety Agency.
EASA toughened its measures against Minsk linked to this event on Wednesday (June 3), requiring aircraft flying under the European flag to no longer enter Belarusian airspace.
Until then, she had advised them against it.
For Iata, which brings together 290 companies representing 82% of world traffic, such a prohibition of the airspace of a third country amounts to "
politicizing air safety
", a "
retrograde and disappointing development
".
In a statement, the association said EASA should "
let airlines manage safety as they do on a daily basis by assessing the risks of their operations
."
Iata supported previous
EASA
“
proportionate
”
measures
against overflights over Belarus, but respected the decisions of airlines continuing to use the country's airspace.
"
You don't respond to one bad decision with another,
" summed up Iata's CEO Willie Walsh, quoted in the press release: "
We must avoid any interference between politics and the safe operation of planes. , and leaders should never use aviation security as a pretext to achieve their political or diplomatic ends
”.
Following the latest developments around the incident of Ryanair FR4978, @IATA calls to maintain the critical separation between politics & aviation safety issues.
👉 https://t.co/njJnGDNbQq pic.twitter.com/YSoXvsq5P6
- IATA (@IATA) June 4, 2021
► To read also: Belarus: Roman Protassevich, an arrest which shakes Europe
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