Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

President of Belarus

Tuesday 13 October 2020 · 2 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 2 Not answered 0

Key points

  • UK does not accept Belarusian presidential election results.
  • UK has worked with international partners to condemn Belarusian authorities.
  • EU struggles to impose sanctions due to unanimity rules, unlike UK.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Michael Fabricant Con
Foreign Affairs
Context

The UK does not recognize the results of the rigged presidential election in Belarus. The issue of imposing sanctions on the President of Belarus by both the UK and EU is under discussion.

Question

What comparative assessment has he made of the ability of (a) the UK and (b) the EU to impose sanctions on the President of Belarus?

Answer from Dominic Raab

The UK does not accept the results of the rigged presidential election in Belarus. We have worked with our international partners to promote a peaceful resolution. We have condemned the actions of the Belarusian authorities, and we hold those responsible for human rights abuses to account.

Partly answered

Not addressed: No specific comparative assessment was provided comparing UK's ability versus EU's ability to impose sanctions on Belarusian officials.

How: Working With International Partners, Condemning Actions

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Q2 Michael Fabricant Con
Brexit Foreign Affairs
Context

Guy Verhofstadt expressed frustration with the EU's inability to impose sanctions due to unanimity rules. The question focuses on the EU's capability in imposing sanctions compared to the UK post-Brexit.

Question

Everybody's favourite continental politician Guy Verhofstadt recently expressed his huge frustration when he said that unlike the UK and Canada, which have imposed sanctions on Belarus for human rights abuses, the European Union has been unable to do so because of the unanimity rules. What assessment has my right hon. Friend made of the EU foreign policy ability to impose things such as sanctions?

Answer from Dominic Raab

I thank my hon. Friend. He makes a powerful point about the agility and autonomy we have with our new Magnitsky sanctions regime, and some of the latitude we will have post-Brexit. The EU has followed our lead after we imposed targeted sanctions on Lukashenko's son and six other officials on 29 September.

Partly answered

Not addressed: While acknowledging Guy Verhofstadt's comments, no specific comparative assessment of the EU's capability in imposing sanctions was provided.

How: Agility And Autonomy, New Magnitsky Sanctions Regime

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