The protests and their scale will have a decisive impact on the changes in Belarus.
The third package of EU sanctions against the Belarusian regime was adopted on December 17. Its difference from the previous packages is that they apply not only to officials but also to legal entities, enterprises, and firms.
In Brussels, there was no question of economic sanctions at all in the early days after the elections. They wanted to have visa bans only.
By a decision on December 17, the European Union crossed a certain fundamental border, a psychological line, a political Rubicon. From now on, discussions and disputes in the EU about whether to move to economic sanctions are a thing of the past. Die is cast. After that, the new economic sanctions of the EU will be psychologically easier to introduce.