The official representative of the European Union's foreign policy service Peter Stano called the conditions for the recognition of Alexander Lukashenko as the legitimate president of Belarus. In an interview with Lente.ru, he said that it would be possible if the Belarusian people voted for him in free and fair elections.
According to him, another important condition is compliance with international standards and the presence of international observers. “The last elections were not such, they were obviously rigged,” Stano said.
The representative of the European Commission stressed that Brussels recognizes any President of Belarus, elected in a fair election. “We just want the people to have this opportunity,” he said.
In mid-September 2020, the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, said that Brussels refuses to recognize Lukashenko as the legitimate president of Belarus. He explained this step by the fact that the union considers the presidential elections to be rigged. Since October 2020, the European Union has adopted five packages of sanctions against Belarus. More than 25 individuals and legal entities, some of whom are accused of being involved in the situation with migrants on the Polish-Belarusian border, fell under the latest restrictions introduced on December 2, 2021.
The election of the President of Belarus took place on August 9, 2020. Based on their results, the CEC announced that Lukashenka received 80 percent of the vote. His rival in the elections, the wife of opposition blogger Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, won only 10 percent of the vote. Citizens of the country who disagreed with such results took to the streets, protests continued for several months. A number of opposition politicians and activists were arrested or fled abroad, including Tikhanovskaya herself.
