For the last 10 days, thousands of protesters in Belarus have been demanding that strongman president Alexander Lukashenko step down after what the opposition claims was a rigged election.
At least two were killed and thousands detained across the country in a violent crackdown after the August 9 election.
In response, the European Union is gearing up to impose sanctions on Belarus.
Last week, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki called for a special EU summit on Belarus. On Monday, European Council president Charles Michel said on Twitter that he would call a meeting of EU leaders on Wednesday to discuss the situation in Belarus.
“The Wednesday summit […] is the result of pressure that the Polish government, and above all Prime Minister Morawiecki personally, exerted from Monday right after the elections in Belarus,” Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Paweł Jabłoński said on Tuesday.
He added: “We do not want the EU's reaction to be limited only to presenting an idea for sanctions and adopting a common declaration, which is obviously needed, but to give Belarusians something more.”
According to Jabłoński, the bloc should offer Belarus “a real offer to resolve this conflict in a stable and lasting manner - and this is only possible if we [the EU] offer Belarus a real prospect of cooperation.”
At the Wednesday summit, 27 EU leaders are likely to discuss what other support they can extend to Belarus, with initial ideas including starting a fund for victims of repression and funding projects to support media pluralism there, the Reuters news agency reported.
According to Reuters, other support could include providing advice on police reform, enhancing student exchanges with the EU and granting easier access to the bloc's labour market for Belarusian workers.
On Friday, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that Poland would seek to support Belarus by opening its borders and labour market while providing financial support to civil society.
On Monday, Morawiecki said he voiced support for the people of Belarus in a phone call with that country’s opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya
(jh/pk)
Source: PAP, Reuters