Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk, who is Poland's European affairs minister, added that the Polish ambassador in Brussels, Andrzej Sadoś, was set to "firmly raise the issue" at a meeting with EU counterparts later in the day.
Szynkowski vel Sęk made the announcement in an interview with public broadcaster Polish Radio.
Earlier on Wednesday, news outlets reported that the Polish government had criticised Sweden, which currently presides over the EU, for "lack of action regarding sanctions against Belarus."
'This is obviously negligence’
Szynkowski vel Sęk told Polish Radio that “the issue of sanctions is one of the priorities of Poland’s policy in Brussels.”
He added that when EU countries held talks about the 10th package of sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, which was eventually adopted on the first anniversary of the war last month, “Poland was demanding even farther-reaching measures.”
Szynkowski vel Sęk said: “We had some success; the 10th round of sanctions is ambitious.”
He added: “However, at the time we secured a declaration that sanctions against Belarus would be quickly aligned with the punitive measures against Russia. For a long time now, about a dozen weeks, this declaration has not been acted upon and this is obviously negligence.”
Szynkowski vel Sęk said in the interview: “We’ve been constantly asking the Swedish presidency about this, as well as those who have been hampering this process.”
Asked which countries were hampering the process, he replied: "We're not going into the details of negotiations, also because we want to ensure that eventually we’ll get the desired result.”
Szynkowski vel Sęk said he was “cautiously optimistic” about securing fresh sanctions against Belarus.
He added: ”Our ambassador will firmly raise these issues today, at a meeting with counterparts from fellow EU member states.”
Poland calls for EU ban on car exports to Belarus, furniture imports
Among other demands, Poland is pushing for a ban on the export of cars and car parts to Belarus, to prevent these products from being re-exported to Russia, and for an embargo on the import of furniture from Belarus, as such imports currently allow Russian products to enter the EU market, Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.
Poland urges reduction of EU price cap on Russian oil
Szynkowski vel Sęk also revealed that Poland had joined forces with Lithuania and Estonia in demanding a reduction of the EU price cap on Russian oil and would “seek to extend the coalition.”
The EU capped the purchase price of Russian oil at USD 60 per barrel in December, news outlets reported at the time.
Szynkowski vel Sęk said on Wednesday: “For the price cap to work, it must be subject to regular review. When the review shows that the price cap should be reduced, then it should be reduced.”
He added: “In our view, to continue to be effective, the price cap should be reduced to some USD 52 per barrel.”
EU ambassadors were set to discuss the issue at a meeting on Wednesday, the IAR news agency reported.
Wednesday is day 385 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, consilium.europa.eu