Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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98. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will report on the recent meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33704/21]

John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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142. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the agenda at the meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council on 21 June 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33708/21]

Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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Will the Minister report on his recent meeting with the EU Foreign Affairs Council and make a statement on the matter? In particular, I am interested in knowing how the Belarusian situation is evolving.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 98 and 142 together.

I attended the meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council, which took place in Luxembourg on Monday, 21 June. The Council held a discussion on the situation in Belarus and we met the opposition leader, Ms Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. As I said in response to an earlier question on Belarus, we decided to impose restrictive measures on 78 Belarusian individuals and eight entities. These measures will sanction those behind the brutal repression we have been witnessing in Belarus, those responsible for the forced and unlawful landing of a Ryanair flight at Minsk, and several prominent business figures who support and benefit from the Lukashenko regime. The Council agreed on sectors to be targeted by economic sanctions. We also discussed ways for the EU to maintain people-to-people contacts with ordinary Belarusians.

EU foreign ministers met the Iraqi foreign minister and discussed how the EU could support upcoming parliamentary elections there. Ministers decided to deploy an EU election observation mission, subject to security considerations. We also discussed how the EU could support the implementation of urgently needed economic and security sector reforms in Iraq.

In a strategic discussion on the relationship between the EU and the Latin American and Caribbean region, we had an exchange on how to strengthen and increase dialogue and co-operation. We focused on how the EU could help the region overcome the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

I raised the need for the EU to address in a more robust manner the root causes of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including settlement expansion, demolitions and evictions, matters that the Dáil just discussed. I encouraged the EU to step up its engagement with both parties in the context of a new Government in Israel and with a view to encouraging the rescheduling of elections across Palestine.

I also raised my deep concern regarding the conflict in Tigray and the continuing deterioration of the humanitarian situation there. The Council will hold a full discussion on the situation in Ethiopia in July and I plan to visit Ethiopia next month.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

The Council heard updates from the High Representative on the talks in Vienna on the joint comprehensive plan of action regarding Iran, and on his recent visit to Lebanon. The Council also exchanged views on Mali, the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue and the EU-Turkey and EU-Russia relationship.

Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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We are all still shocked and appalled by what happened on 23 May, that being, the unlawful forced landing of a Ryanair flight at Minsk. It was a terror-like attack, risking the lives of more than 170 people, including EU citizens. It was an international crime and a continuation of the repression of the Belarusian people. It was an act of piracy against an Irish-registered plane with the tricolour on its fuselage. Since then, the EU has strengthened its pre-existing restrictive measures over the situation in Belarus by introducing a ban on the overflight of EU airspace and access to EU airports by Belarusian carriers of all kinds. EU member states are required to deny permission to land in, take off from and overfly their territories to any aircraft operated by the Belarusian carriers, including as marketing carriers.

Speaking as my party's spokesperson on aviation, it is important that this restriction be enforced. Is it being enforced across the EU? Is there any pushback from the awkward squad of the EU, specifically Hungary and Poland?

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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It is being enforced and all EU states are, as far as I am aware, complying with it fully. There is a challenge, though, which I raised, as did a number of others. While it is the appropriate action and the EU and EU leaders needed to respond robustly to an outrageous act of aviation piracy, which is how it has been described, cutting off Belarusian airlines and not allowing them into EU airspace or EU airlines into Belarusian airspace has created a consequence of isolation for Belarus, in that any international travel will now have to go east rather than west to get to the EU.

People may well have to fly to Moscow to be able to fly to the EU now. It is still the appropriate decision to take that position from an aviation perspective, to respond to what happened, but it has a consequence we need to think about in the medium term. The other very strong and robust sanctions are not only appropriate but will also be effective. The EU is likely to add further to those sanctions in the months ahead.

Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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The Lukashenko regime is undemocratic, despotic and incongruent with the rest of Europe. A fourth package of EU sanctions over enduring repression and the forced landing of the Ryanair flight was announced on Monday. The goal of these sanctions is to put pressure on the Belarusian political leadership to initiate a genuine and inclusive national dialogue with broader society and to avoid further repression. Is there any sign these measures will have any real impact so far as Belarus is concerned?

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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It is too early to make that assessment because we only made the decision at the start of this week. It will take time for those decisions to take effect. The debate within the EU around sanctions is always a delicate one because if sanctions are applied in the wrong way they can be counterproductive. In the case of Belarus, the EU is very united on the need to target its sanctions at people who are responsible for anti-democratic practices and repression, and those who benefit from the Lukashenko regime remaining intact, so they are appropriate. A fifth sanctions measure is currently under consideration, around looking at other economic sectors we may be able to put pressure on to force a change of approach in Belarus and a move towards allowing the Belarusian people to have the power to elect their own leadership democratically and transparently. Time will tell how effective those sanctions will be.