Activities of Sandra KALNIETE related to 2023/2041(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Relations with Belarus (debate)
Shadow reports (1)
REPORT on relations with Belarus
Amendments (15)
Amendment 52 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas the Belarusian authorities actively support and have become accomplices in Russia’s unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine as well as accomplices in state sponsorship of terrorism and as a state which uses means of terrorism;
Amendment 58 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas on 27 April 2023, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe unanimously denounced the deportation and ‘Russification’ of Ukrainian children as an act of genocide, in which the Belarusian regime is complicit;
Amendment 65 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas the Lukashenka regime poses a direct threat to the EU and its citizens by continuing to instrumentalise migrationweaponising migration and human trafficking, accepting the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons on its territory and refusing to implement nuclear safety requirements at the Belarusian Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in Astravyets;
Amendment 79 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F a (new)
Recital F a (new)
Fa. whereas the unacceptable persecution of the Polish and other minorities has intensified, including recent decisions of the Belarusian authorities aimed at eliminating education in the Polish and Lithuanian languages; whereas the appeal of Andrzej Poczobut, an active member of the Polish minority in Belarus and journalist, was rejected by the Supreme Court of Belarus and his 8-year prison sentence was left unchanged;
Amendment 105 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Condemns in the strongest terms the unabated repression and the systematic and widespread human rights violations committed by the Lukashenka regime, including manifold cases of mistreatment and tort, torture, practice of incommunicado detention, inadequate medical assistance, exerting pressure ofn political prisoners by deliberately arresting and sentencing their relatives and revoking licences of lawyers; continues to stand in solidarity with the brave people of Belarus who stand up for a sovereign, free and democratic Belarus, risking their freedom and lives;
Amendment 116 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Urges the Belarusian regime to end this spiral of violence, torture and repression against dissenting voices and perceived critics, to release immediately and unconditionally all political prisoners and all persons arbitrarily detained, and to engage in a genuine dialogue with representatives of the democratic forces and civil society in order to find a way out of the current political crisis through the organisation of free and fair elections to be organised under international observation led by the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe;
Amendment 147 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Condemns the persecution of the Polish and other minorities in Belarus and of their representatives; calls on the Belarusian authorities to cease all measures taken against the Polish and Lithuanian minorities and to respect their rights, including the right to education in Polish and Lithuanian; demands immediate realise of Andrzej Poczobut;
Amendment 167 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Reiterates its call for the EU Member States to prepare the ground for the criminal prosecution of Belarusian officials who are responsible for or complicit in electoral fraud and grave human rights violations and crimes against humanity, under the principle of universal justicerisdiction;
Amendment 177 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Condemns in the strongest possible terms the Belarusian regime’s involvement in Russia’s unjustified and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine, including the massive provision of ammunition and military hardware to the Russian aggressors and the use of Belarusian territory as a staging ground to launch missile attacks on military and civilian targets in Ukraine; notes that the vast majority of Belarusians disapprove of this multifaceted involvement in Russia’s war of aggression; expresses its support for the Belarusian volunteers, in particular the ‘Kalinouski’ and ‘Pahonia’ regiments, who are bravely fighting alongside the Ukrainian armyArmed Forces of Ukraine to repel the aggressors;
Amendment 178 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Denounces the illegal transfer of more than 2150 children, including orphans, from Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine to so-called 'recreational camps' in Belarus, where they are subjected to Russification; supports Ukrainian prosecution investigating the alleged role of Belarus in the forced deportations and if the actions of the Lukashenka himself and his regime may also amount to the crime against humanity of ‘deportation or forcible transfer of population’ under the Rome Statute of the ICC; considers Lukashenka as responsible for these war crimes as Putin and Lvova-Belova and therefore calls on the ICC to issue a similar international warrant; calls on the Council to expand the list of individuals targeted by the sanctions to include those involved in forced deportations of Ukrainian children to Belarus;
Amendment 180 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Calls for the EU institutions and the Member States to take all the actions necessary to enable the criminal prosecution of Belarusian officials who are complicit in the war crimes, crimes against humanity, crimes of genocide and the crime of aggression committed in Ukraine; deems furthermore that the special international tribunal on the crime of aggression must have jurisdiction to investigate not only Putin and the Russian political and military leadership, but also Lukashenka and the political and military leadership of Belarus, states that it is an enabling state, from the territory of which and with the logistic support of which the Russia is committing its war of aggression against Ukraine;
Amendment 189 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Call for the EU and its Member States to broaden and strengthen the scope of sanctions (‘restrictive measures’) against individuals and legal entities responsible for or complicit in grave human rights violations in Belarus under the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Mechanisms (EU Magnitsky Act), including judges, prosecutors, law enforcement, prison and penal colony officials, and agents of the infamous KGB and GUBOPiK; insists that Belarusian potash, which is the main source of the regime’s income, should remain on the list of sanctions; urges the EU and its Member States to increase their capacity to assess the real effect of sanctions in order to ensure their full implementation and to thwart any circumvention schemes; condemns those third countries that are helping Russia and Belarus to circumvent the imposed sanctions and asks the Commission and the Member States to consider secondary sanctions against those third countries; calls for Russia and Belarus to be put on the EU’s high-risk third country list on anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism;
Amendment 207 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Notes with great concern the rampant economic, political and military integration of Belarus into the Union State with Russia; condemns the announced deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons under Russian command on Belarusian territory; calls for the EU and the Member States to maintain unity in addressing the multifaceted threats posed by the Lukashenka regime to the EU, in particular the continued and growing state- engineered illegal migration crisis at the borders of Belarus with Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, Latvia and elsewhere, which is a purposefully orchestrated reprisal by the Belarusian regime against EU Member States for their support to democratic forces of Belarus, and to work in cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency to ensure nuclear safety at the Belarusian NPP;
Amendment 242 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Calls for the EU, its institutions and its Member States to develop a more ambitious and comprehensive strategy coupled with a broad plan for economic support in order to support democratic forces, civil society activists, independent trade unions and free media both in and outside Belarus; calls for improved EU communication with the people in Belarus in order to provide them with information and counter disinformation and propaganda by the state-controlled media; urges the EU Member States to coordinate their actions in order to alleviate the difficulties faced by democratic forces and civil society activists in exile, for example in the process of obtaining residence permits or opening bank accounts;
Amendment 246 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11a. Supports the preparations for an EU-led international donor conference to assist the democratic forces of Belarus; calls for the EU to engage on an operational level with the representatives of the democratic forces of Belarus in order to conclude work on the adoption of a roadmap aimed at the implementation of the EUR 3 billion economic and investment package already envisaged by the Commission as a way of embracing the democratic aspirations of the Belarusian people; calls for political dialogue between the EU and the democratic forces of Belarus in order to achieve a joint vision on said support plan; highlights the need for a substantive public discussion in order to build public support for considerable EU involvement;