What kind of foreign policy actor can the EU be defined as in respect to their sanctions regime against Belarus?

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to assess the character of the European Union as a foreign policy actor through examining its restrictive and proactive measures vis-à-vis Belarus, a country often branded as ‘Europe’s last dictatorship’. For this purpose, documents of the European Parliament are examined throughout a ten-year period, allowing for a coherent policy assessment of European Union decision-making. By depicting the Parliament’s impetus behind each decision to impose or lift sanctions and behind introducing other foreign policy tools, this analysis will gain some insight on the principles guiding the European Union as a foreign policy actor. The comprehensive approach further allows us to draw conclusions on the coherence and structure of the European Union’s foreign policy towards Belarus, as well as on the type of actor the European Union can be defined as in light of their policies.