By approving the Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime, the European Union (EU) will be able to impose sanctions on those responsible for genocide, war crimes and serious human rights violations, Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkēvičs (JV) told LETA after participating in the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting.
He explained that while sanctions have so far been applied as a mechanism of political pressure against individual countries, the so-called “European Magnitsky Act” has brought into force another legal option to target specific individuals and officials around the world if there is sufficient evidence of that these persons have committed or are responsible for human rights violations.
Rinkēvičs said that for the first time since the US presidential election, the EU Foreign Affairs Council had very serious discussions on EU-US relations, the new administration and strategic issues. The Minister emphasized that there were many areas in which the EU would like to cooperate much more intensively with the United States – multilateral diplomacy, the fight against Covid-19 and trade aspects, a common position against China and Russia, including the issue of Iran’s nuclear program. Rinkēvičs pointed out that the discussion was about how to establish these contacts, which are its priorities from the EU’s point of view in cooperation with the new US administration.
The EU Foreign Affairs Council also discussed the EU’s strategic autonomy. Rinkēvičs said that in the discussion, everyone understands something with autonomy for the time being, moreover, in a very wide range, from security foreign policy and defense, decision-making to trade, digital and climate issues, where the EU has very good practices, the Minister emphasized. as it was more like an exchange of ideas.
As LETA informed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), the ministers also discussed topical issues on the human rights situation in Belarus, the situation related to the Venezuelan National Assembly elections on 6 December, the political situation in Georgia after the parliamentary elections and the possible EU response to Turkey’s actions in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Speaking about the situation in Belarus, the Minister stressed that a decision should be made as soon as possible to add to the list of sanctions Belarusian officials and companies that support the regime of Belarus’s self-proclaimed President Lukashenko and violence against protesters. The Foreign Ministers also discussed the situation regarding the National Assembly elections held in Venezuela on 6 December without recognizing them. These elections were held in an undemocratic manner and, as a result, EU foreign ministers agreed that the results were not acceptable.
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