EU “black list“ will be added with 10 more people and 29 organizations

AFP agency informs, citing an anonymous senior official in the EU. The meeting of foreign ministers of EU countries will be held on Friday, March 23. It will discuss the new "targeted sanctions" against Belarus.

Now in the EU "black list" is 231 person. For 227 of them the freezing of assets and property in the European Union is applied.

Yesterday it leaked out that the main opponents of the new sanctions on Belarus - Latvia and Slovenia are ready to support the common position of the European Union.

Radio Liberty with reference to the Slovenian Dnevnik informs of a high probability of expansion on March 23 sanctions against the official Minsk. On March 21, this issue will be discussed at the level of European ambassadors . If no agreement is reached between them, then on Friday the decision will be taken without debate. If no agreement can be reached, the discussion will continue on Friday at the level of Foreign Ministers.

According to Slovenian reviewers, Ljubljana will no longer block the candidacy of Belarusian oligarch Yuri Chizh - Slovenian partner of the company Riko (not so long ago, the company received a contract in Belarus of 100 million euros).

According to informed sources, except Chizh in the so-called "black list" several other companies of the Belarusian billionaire Vladimir Peftiev are included. The oligarch is banned from entering EU countries, his assets are frozen, and this case is pending before the European Court in Luxembourg.

According to "Salidarnasts" on the eve the Slovenian Foreign Minister Carl Eryavets said that in case of such an integrated approach, his country would support sanctions. On March 20 Foreign Minister of Slovenia issued a strong statement in connection with the death sentence of two young Belarusians. This sentence the regime performed very quickly, despite the lack of evidence and numerous statements of the EU leaders to Lukashenka to suspend the death penalty. Slovenian Foreign Minister, who strongly opposes the death penalty, called the shootings of Konovalov and Kovalev as the cruel and inhuman sentence.

Latvia does not want the introduction of ill-conceived sanctions against Belarus, but can not close the eyes on the recent developments taking place in the country, said Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, Defense Minister Artis Pabriks. It is reported by interfax.by with reference to the agency BNS.

"We do not want to see ill-considered economic sanctions that could harm the economy of Latvia", he said.

As the minister told journalists on March 20, the government at the closed part of the meeting discussing political and economic aspects, has approved Latvia's position for the meeting of foreign ministers of EU countries, which will consider the sanctions against Minsk.

According to BNS agency, the meeting of foreign ministers of EU countries will be held on Thursday and Friday.

The Minister stressed, that the recent events in Belarus, "destroys the possibility" of the existence of the supporters of Belarus in the EU. "Two executions (condemned in the bombing of Minsk subway - interfax.by). This makes discussion in the European Union very difficult ", he said.

According to Pabriks, one must reckon with the fact that the EU will bring economic sanctions against Belarus.

Now the EU is making a "black list" of entrepreneurs and enterprises associated with President Lukashenko.

"We are doing everything to make the sanctions affect our country as little as possible, but we can not close our eyes on what is happening in Belarus", he stressed.

Which entrepreneurs and businesses will be included in the list, Pabriks didn't tell, citing the secrecy of negotiations, but acknowledged that it could include companies cooperating with Latvian entrepreneurs.

According to him, the government has estimates how much the sanctions can cost the Latvian economy, but Pabriks didn't announce them, noting the losses "are not so great". "The range is quite wide, but it is measured by a few percent of GDP", the Minister said.

When asked, whether Latvia could use its veto, if it does not satisfy with the list. Pabriks said it would be wrong to do so.

On the question of whether there is a counter movement from the Belarusian side, Pabriks said, "Belarus was too rough, it did not want to listen to the issues (important for - interfax.by) of the European Union".

As UDF.BY wrote earlier, Brussels edition of the EUobserver reported that the "black list" is supposed to be added with four Belarusian oligarchs: Yuri Chizh (head of group of companies "Triple" and owner of football club "Dynamo" (Minsk), Alexander Moshensky (head of the "Santa Impex Brest"), Alexander Shakutin (Chairman of the Directors Board of "Amkodor") and Pavel Topuzidis (head of "Tabak-Invest" and the owner of hypermarkets "Karona").