Macron offers EU mediation in Belarus 'including Russia'
August 20, 2020
French President Emmanuel Macron has proposed that Brussels and Moscow can help solve the political crisis in Belarus. He held talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at his retreat in the south of France.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/C. Simon
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The leaders of Germany and France discussed the worsening political crisis in Belarusduring talks at French President Emmanuel Macron's summer retreat on the Cote d'Azur on Thursday.
At a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel following a two-hour meeting, Macron said the European Union could try to mediate an end to the deep public discontent over the disputed election win for strongman Alexander Lukashenko.
Macron said the Belarusian people must find a solution but said that Brussels stands ready to help and insisted that Russia — the ex-Soviet state's closest ally — should be included in the dialogue.
But he also warned Moscow against any aggressive intervention in its neighbor's affairs.
Merkel, meanwhile, said that Lukashenko "has not sought to speak to any of us [EU leaders]," despite facing a growing post-election protest movement that has brought hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets.
Some protesters gathered again in Minsk on Wednesday evening, defying Lukashenko's latest order to his police to clear the streets of the capital after a week and a half of rallies against his rule.
Demonstrators have rejected the president's victory in an August 9 vote his opponents say was rigged, fuelling the country's biggest political crisis since the breakup of the Soviet Union.
Pressure is mounting on President Alexander Lukashenko to step down after 26 years in power. Huge protests that erupted after last week's disputed election show no sign of dying down. DW looks at how the crisis unfolded.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/S. Gapon
Allegations of vote fraud
Alexander Lukashenko declared a landslide victory in presidential polls on August 9. According to the official count, the 65-year-old won 80% of the votes while his main challenger, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, got only 10%. Lukashenko's opponents accuse him of rigging the vote to secure a sixth term after 26 years in power.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/S. Grits
Protests erupt
After the results were announced, Belarusians took to the streets to demand an election rerun monitored by independent observers. Security forces responded with a brutal crackdown. The violence, which Lukashenko blamed on foreign interference, was widely condemned internationally, prompting the EU to prepare sanctions against implicated Belarusian officials.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/S. Grits
Violent crackdown
In the first four days of protests, at least two people died and almost 7,000 were detained. But rather than peter out, rallies calling for Lukashenko's resignation have grown. Thousands of protesters have joined daily marches demanding the release of political prisoners and an end to police violence.
Image: Reuters/Tut.by
Nationwide movement
More than 100,000 people took part in a "March for Freedom" on August 16 — one of the biggest ever shows of opposition to Lukashenko's rule. Protesters chanted "Leave!," and waved the red and white historic Belarusian flag that has become a common sight at rallies. Lukashenko scrapped the flag when he came to power, and it has since become a symbol of opposition to him.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/S. Gapon
'I'm for Lukashenko'
Lukashenko's supporters held a rally of their own on August 16, although their numbers were dwarfed by the opposition's march. "I'm for Lukashenko," 68-year-old supporter Alla Georgievna told Reuters. "I don't understand why everyone has risen up against him. We get our pensions and salaries on time thanks to him."
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/S. Grits
Workers put down tools
Workers in state-owned industries, considered to be Lukashenko's traditional support base, have started turning against him. Thousands of factory workers took part in walkouts after the opposition called a general strike. Footage from August 17 that was widely shared on social media showed workers at a Minsk tractor plant heckling Lukashenko with shouts of "Leave!" as he tried to give a speech.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/TASS/V. Sharifulin
State media join strike
Several hundred journalists, camera operators and other employees at Belarusian state broadcaster BT also walked off the job. Local media said staff had issued demands urging management to end censorship and recognize the election results as invalid. During the strike, "Belarus 1" TV broadcast an empty studio with music playing the background.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/V. Sharifulin
Opposition in exile
Soon after the protests began, opposition presidential candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya fled to neighboring Lithuania, citing threats to her safety. In exile, she has renewed calls for fresh elections and said she is "ready to take responsibility and act as a national leader." Lukashenko, meanwhile, has conceded that new polls would be possible — but only after amending the constitution.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/TASS/N. Fedosenko
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Pandemic coordination
As well as Belarus, the two leaders discussed the ongoing tensions in the Mediterranean between Greece and Turkey about the right to prospect for oil, along with Mali's military coup and the coronavirus pandemic and its implications at the European level.
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The two were instrumental in pushing through an EU-wide deal last month that saw member countries approve the joint issuance of debt for the first time, in an effort to provide funds for countries hardest hit by the virus' spread.
The rescue plan, which is worth €750 billion ($858 billion), represented a special victory for Macron, who came to office in 2017 committed to strengthening the European Union but has struggled to deliver.
Attention is now turning to what else the duo can deliver in the time left before they get distracted by the German chancellor's succession and France's 2022 presidential election.
The two leaders meanwhile called for an investigation into the apparent poisoning of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, who
was in a coma on Thursday after being taken ill on a domestic flight.
"What is very, very important now is that it [the hospitalization] is urgently clarified: How did this situation come about? We will insist on that," said Merkel
Merkel was greeted by Macron and his wife Brigitte in the fortress courtyard on her arrival.
The seaside stronghold, on the French Riviera, is not a new scene for diplomatic encounters.
Macron met Russian President Vladimir Putin there last summer ahead of the summit of the G7 group of major industrial powers, a group from which Russia was excluded after invading Ukraine's Crimea region in 2014.
The last German chancellor to visit was Helmut Kohl, invited by Francois Mitterand in 1985.
