Brussels 22.05.2023 “I want to start by remembering that yesterday was the International Day of Solidarity with the Political Prisoners in Belarus. We are talking about 1500 persons who are imprisoned in very dire situations, so it is important to remember them, to continue supporting them, to continue putting pressure on Lukashenko’s regime. The Council will discuss about it also, but the celebration was yesterday – [it is] important to remember that” said Representative Josep Borrell upon arrival to the Foreign Affairs Council.

We will talk about the situation in Ukraine, certainly, and about the new [11th] package of sanctions and the new [8th] tranche of the European Peace Facility (EPF). You know that there are important discussions about that.

“[On the] sanctions, it is more about circumvention – to avoid our sanctions be ineffective because in practical terms, they are circumvented. We will see how we manage that.

“We will start working on the implementation of the decision of the G7, and I hope I will bring soon to the Ambassadors concrete proposals to implement the decision of the G7 on new kind of sanctions against Russia. As you know, it is a competence of the Council to take these decisions and I will start working on that.

“We will discuss about the Horn of Africa and we will invite our friends from the Western Balkans to share the lunch with us.

“We will approve a new package of sanctions against Iran for human rights abuses. Remember that three people have been executed and we will adopt this new package of sanctions.