PORTUGAL WILL FOLLOW EU CONSENSUS ON BELARUS

C O N F I D E N T I A L LISBON 000577 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/UMB JOE WANG STATE ALSO PASS TO EUR/ERA RACHEL WOLFE E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/11/2019 TAGS: BO PREL EUN PHUM PO SUBJECT: PORTUGAL WILL FOLLOW EU CONSENSUS ON BELARUS SANCTIONS REF: STATE 112644 Classified By: Pol-Econ Officer Mario Fernandez, reasons 1.4(b) and (d) (C) Poleconoff delivered reftel points on November 5 to Liliana Mascarenhas, Portugal's MFA Director for European Affairs, and Vitor Marcelino, MFA Deputy Director for Common Foreign and Security Policy and Assistant European Correspondent. Mascarenhas stated at the outset that Portugal would follow the EU consensus position on sanctions. Although she agreed that Belarus had not implemented necessary human rights and democracy reforms, Mascarenhas observed that the issue was still under discussion in Brussels and it was too early for the EU to take a position. She concurred that to have the most significant effect on Belarus, it was necessary for EU and U.S. sanction policies to stay in sync. At the same time, she emphasized that nuances were important, noting that some countries in the EU held views that "do not necessarily coincide with U.S. perspectives." For more reporting from Embassy Lisbon and information about Portugal, please see our Intelink site: http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/portal:port ugal BALLARD