If the European Union refuses to extend sanctions against Russia and Belarus, national sanctions on the part of Lithuania or any other country, would be ineffective, the leader of the ruling Nemunas Dawn party, Remigijus Zemaitaitis, declared on Tuesday.
“National sanctions won’t work, and it is simply impossible for them to work,” Zemaitaitis told reporters. “I’ve told the prime minister that unless there is a regional agreement involving Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Germany agreeing, then there is nothing that we can do. Just look at our ports. Look where our products leave the country.”
The Nemunas Dawn leader was sceptical that other EU member states would follow Lithuania’s lead were it to decide on unilateral sanctions.
“Lithuania began a war with China, but somehow that idea sank,” Zemaitaitis says. “Lithuania began a friendship with Taiwan, and we ended up with absolutely nothing.”
The MP went on to say that he doubts whether Hungary might block an extension of EU sanctions.
“We’ll see, but I don’t believe it,” he said.
Lithuania’s Seimas is preparing to extent the country’s national sanctions on Russia for another year, and lawmakers are also considering further economic restrictions on Russia and Belarus if the EU were to drop its own sanctions.
Uder the proposed changes, the list of individuals, entities and organisations subject to freezes on assets and economic resources would be determined by the government.
The document, which was seen by BNS, also says that such a mechanism would only be utilised as a final resort.
The EU’s current economic sanctions against the Kremlin are set to expire at the end of July, which means that another potential Budapest veto will have to be overcome to extend them.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda has said that Lithuania will stand ready to impose national economic sanctions on Russia, but added that EU-wide measures are far more effective.
Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas, for his part, has also said that national sanctions cannot match EU-wide restrictions, but if Europe were to decline to extend its measures, national sanctions would make sense only if other countries in the region did the same.
The speaker of the Lithuanian parliament, Saulius Skvernelis, has also argued that if the EU does not renew its sanctions, restrictions should then be applied at the regional level.
Source: BNS
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