EU Council Meeting of heads of State and government, 24 May 2021

 EU Council Meeting of heads of State and government

24 May 2021

On the first day of the extraordinary European Council meeting in Brussels, EU leaders decided on new sanctions against Belarus, in response to the hijacking of a Ryanair plane and the arrest of a journalist and his girlfriend who were on board. 

They also held a strategic debate on Russia and condemned "illegal, provocative and destabilising Russian activities" towards the EU. 

They took stock of the implementation of the agreements with the UK and called on the UK government to respect them. 

They welcomed the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and 

condemned "in the strongest terms" the kidnapping of the transitional President of Mali and the Prime Minister... Read more

European Council conclusions on Belarus, 24 May 2021

III. Belarus

The European Council strongly condemns the forced landing of a Ryanair flight in Minsk, Belarus, on 23 May 2021 endangering aviation safety, and the detention by Belarusian authorities of journalist Raman Pratasevich and Sofia Sapega.

The European Council:

- demands the immediate release of Raman Pratasevich and Sofia Sapega and that their freedom of movement be guaranteed;

- calls on the International Civil Aviation Organization to urgently investigate this unprecedented and unacceptable incident;

- invites the Council to adopt additional listings of persons and entities as soon as possible on the basis of the relevant sanctions framework;

- calls on the Council to adopt further targeted economic sanctions and invites the High Representative and the Commission to submit proposals without delay to this end;

- calls on all EU-based carriers to avoid overflight of Belarus;

- calls on the Council to adopt the necessary measures to ban overflight of EU airspace by Belarusian airlines and prevent access to EU airports of flights operated by such airlines;

- stands in solidarity with Latvia following the unjustified expulsion of Latvian diplomats.

The European Council will remain seized of the matter.