Lithuania blocks EU funds for Belarus
Lithuania has blocked the allocation of EU money to Belarus / Reuters
Lithuania has blocked the allocation of EU money to Belarus within the framework of the EU program on cross-border cooperation, the representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Lithuania Božena Zaborovska-Zdanovič said.
"All payments were stopped before receiving an explanation from the European Commission on the obvious risks," TASS quotes her as saying. The representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Lithuania clarified that one of the frozen payments was about 3 million euros.
The payments were stopped immediately after the aggravation of the situation in Belarus. According to Zaborovska-Zdanovič, Lithuania fears that the Belarusian authorities will use this money for other purposes.
The cross-border cooperation program aims to develop regions on the border of Belarus, Lithuania and Latvia. This year, the EU planned to allocate 18.4 million euros for it, next year -- 10.7 million euros, and in 2022-2024 -- 3.5 million euros.
On October 2, the European Union introduced visa and financial sanctions against 40 representatives of Belarus. The "blacklist" includes 28 people from power structures and 12 members of the Central Election Commission.
