Your Excellency,
Colleagues,
I would like to thank her Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia, Mrs. Liimets for her kind invitation to speak at this topical meeting.
Greece is proud to participate in the organization of today's event, together with other like-minded countries.
In this regard, we support any initiative aimed at highlighting the need to be vigilant in the face of developments in Belarus.
After all, we need a broad debate on how best to deal with this crucial issue.
Since the beginning of the crisis in Belarus, Greece has maintained a clear and consistent position,
a position based on values and principles.
We support, together with our partners, the self-evident right of the people of Belarus to a democratic system of government.
We also strongly condemn the serious violations of human rights and the continuing lack of respect for the rule of law by the Lukashenko regime.
In addition, following the forced landing of Ryanair flight to Minsk on 23 May, we made it clear that this was an act not appropriate for any civilized state, an act of state piracy.
Greece is further examining this issue, including the possibility of further response.
We actively supported all the decisions taken by the EU to increase pressure on the regime and increase support for the people of Belarus.
I had the opportunity to meet several times with the leader of the Belarusian opposition, Ms. Tsikhanouskaya, in Athens as well.
In our discussions, I reiterated our country's full support for a democratic Belarus.
However, despite our joint efforts, the Lukashenko regime has shown no intention of changing its behavior.
On the contrary, it has adopted pressure practices in some Member States and the EU as a whole, such as the instrumentalization of refugees and migrants, in order to force us to change our policy.
We must not allow this to happen.
It is important that we continue to pursue a policy based on values and principles.
It is also important that we increase the pressure on Lukashenko - including through further action.
At the same time, we must not overlook the fact that the instrumentalization of refugees and migrants is widely applied in other countries as well.
In this context, the need to respond to them in a comprehensive and collective way becomes apparent.
Let me conclude by congratulating once again the organizers of today's important event.
Thank you.
source mfa.gr
photo
- CC BY-SA 2.0, Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs – https://www.flickr.com/photos/greecemfa - https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/ - https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=80380459,
