Debate: Situation in Belarus - Situation in Lebanon - Situation in Russia, the poisoning of Alexei Navalny
Date: TUESDAY, 15 SEPTEMBER 2020
Speaker: Josep Borrell Fontelles
Language: EN

Let us start with Belarus. You know, the situation is clear for us. We consider the elections on 9 August fraudulent.  But the brutal crackdown continues. More than 7 500 peaceful protesters have been detained, 500 cases of torture have been recorded and documented. All Presidium members of the Coordination Council have been arrested or forced into exile, with the exception of the Nobel Prize Laureate Ms Alexievich.  We have reacted. We have reacted across four pillars of action. First, by adopting sanctions. We are in the process of adopting sanctions for a substantial number of those responsible for the violence, repression and falsification of election results. They are right now under examination by the Council working parties, with a view to adoption as soon as possible. As soon as possible – what does this mean? They should be adopted before the European Council. We want to keep European credibility. We are trying to apply a gradual approach and if the situation further deteriorates, additional sanctions will be envisaged. Secondly, we call on the Belarusian authorities to find a way out of the crisis by ending the violence and unlawful detentions and by establishing an inclusive national dialogue. We continue to stress that we are ready to support any credible initiative in this direction. For example, the offer of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Chair—in—Office to visit Minsk. It could help to resolve the crisis. But we stress the fact that, from our point of view, the re-run of the elections under OSCE supervision would be the best solution, but so far, it has been impossible for us to reach out to the Belarus authorities at any level.  The single-minded determination of Lukashenko to stay in power with the apparently increasing support of Moscow makes all this difficult. You know that there was a meeting between Lukashenko and Putin on Monday, yesterday, and it seems from this meeting that support by Russia for Belarus, for Lukashenko, continues.  Thirdly, we are committed to strengthening our engagement with the Belarusian people and civil society. President von der Leyen announced EUR 53 million allocated to Belarus, funds which have immediately been made available to the victims of violence, and we are trying to provide support to the independent media.  And finally, we are conducting a review of EU-Belarus relations. We are identifying areas where contact should be suspended or scaled back, areas where it is in our interest to engage and even intensify contacts in support of the Belarusian people and civil society, and finally areas where we can assist further if there is a move towards a new democratic Belarus. I want to stress these three areas: where we can suspend or scale back, where we can engage and where we can further assist. This is telegraphically what I can say about the Belarusian situation.  Let’s now focus, as you have requested, on the difficult situation in Lebanon. As you know, there was a devastating explosion on 4 August in Beirut that struck the country in the financial, economic and political dimension. The situation is compounded by the pandemic, and the consequences of the conflict in Syria, including the fact that Lebanon has been hosting over a million Syrian refugees for many years now. Last week, additionally, we witnessed a huge fire in the port of Beirut.  I am proud to say that our response to the explosion was swift and solid. We mobilised civil protection and immediate humanitarian and crisis response in the amount of EUR 63 million. Our civil protection mechanism mobilised 17 Member States, plus Norway and Turkey, with search and rescue teams and medical care providing substantial life-saving assistance.  Our determination is strong and clear. The European Union is a long-standing partner and a major donor of humanitarian, development and other assistance to Lebanon, and we remain committed to assisting the Lebanese people in the upcoming period. Going forward, and as called for by President Macron during his visit of 1 September, we want to quickly see the formation of a capable, representative and accountable Lebanese government. It should deliver on a credible reform agenda, as the Lebanese people have long been claiming. Concrete steps to reform the financial system and to adopt anti-corruption measures remain vital. As important are the necessary reform of the electricity sector and public procurement. Lebanon needs also to reach agreement with the International Monetary Fund in order to solve its deep economic crisis. It is also a precondition for a possible macro-financial assistance programme from the EU. We cannot do that without, first, an agreement with the International Monetary Fund. But we have recently finalised with the World Bank and the United Nations a joint rapid damage and needs assessment for rehabilitation and reconstruction, and work continues on its operationalisation  This should help to provide assistance in the future and we will continue to apply safeguards to ensure that funds reach the intended beneficiaries. That’s what the people of Lebanon asked, to give the help directly to the people in need. They do not seem to rely very much on or trust a lot their institutions and government.  And finally, an independent and credible investigation into the explosion should be conducted and we stand ready to help. We want to help Lebanon, but Lebanon must also do its part and proceed urgently to implement long-standing reform.  And now, let’s have a look at the situation, as you have requested, in Russia, and particularly the poisoning of the Opposition Leader Mr Alexei Navalny, which has shocked all of us. I would like to take this opportunity to transmit, once again, my best wishes to him and his family, and the fact that we condemn in the strongest possible terms this assassination attempt. Because this is the word we have to use: assassination attempt. I personally issued two statements immediately after this event happened, on 24 August and 2 September, and the EU 27 issued a declaration on 3 September.  The German Government confirmed on 2 September that Mr Navalny was poisoned by a military chemical and yesterday we learned that French and Swedish laboratories have ratified this conclusion. There is now irrefutable evidence that a nerve agent from the Novichok group, similar to the one used in the assassination attempt on Sergei and also on Yulia Skripal in March 2018, was used to try to assassinate Mr Navalny.  The use of chemical weapons by anyone, anywhere, and at any time and under any circumstances constitutes a serious breach of international law and international human rights standards. So we will keep calling upon the Russian authorities to cooperate fully in this investigation and particularly with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.  This is all I have to inform you of and I am looking forward to hearing your contribution to these three very important issues of our foreign policy.