Taoiseach: Leaders regard 'hijacking' of Ryanair jet as 'attack on EU itself'

Speaking in Brussels on Tuesday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said there was genuine anger and shock among EU leaders at what was seen as the reckless nature of the incident. File Picture: Sam Boal/RollingNews.ie

The 'hijacking' of the Ryanair jet by Belarus was seen by angered European leaders as an 'attack on the EU itself,' Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said.

Mr Martin expressed his support for the fresh sanctions on the Belarusian regime announced by EU leaders on Monday night.

Speaking in Brussels on Tuesday, Mr Martin revealed there was genuine anger and shock among EU leaders at what was seen as the reckless nature of the incident.

He said the forced grounding of the plane endangered the safety of European citizens at its most basic level, but also in terms of the act itself by a government to force down a commercial airplane in that manner.

Belarus authorities forced Ryanair flight 4978 from Athens to Vilnius to land at Minsk airport on Sunday morning in order to arrest and detain opposition journalist Roman Protasevich, which has been met by widespread condemnation.

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On Monday night, EU leaders agreed to ban the Belarus state airline from entering EU airspace and landing at EU airports.

The Taoiseach said the sanctions were designed to send a clear message to the regime of President Alexander Lukashenko that behaviour of this kind has consequences.

Asked about the effectiveness of sanctions, Mr Martin accepted that sanctions did not always have the desired outcome.

However, he stressed that Europe's strongest leverage against Belarus was economic.

He also said that EU leaders also want to affirm the values of democracy, the rule of law and freedom of association, freedom of speech, and this is being denied to Belarus and citizens and the European Union simply has to take action.