| As a european (german) I can say, that this is mostly just show. Why? For once, only Belarus Airline will be suspended to fly in the EU. The other european airlines will still fly to and over Belarus, giving them money. For example, Lufthansa still wants to fly to Belarus and doesn't seem to care at all about solidarity with other european airlines. Money talks louder.
And then people who don't have the time to research often don't know that Belarus is a important economical partner for german firms. The trade with Germany makes up around 5% of the GDP of Belarus and many german firms are (in)directly supporting Lukaschenko and his regime. It just isn't really known to the public. Therefor, if Germany really wanted it, big and impactful sanctions would easily be possible. The airline banning isn't really meaningful to Lukaschenko at all, they will rebrand the airline and fly from Moscow as Russia is their most important ally. And the thing is, that Germany still has the same problems with other trade partners. Germany still sells weapons to Turkey, Saudi-Arabia or Azerbaijan. Even if this countries did work or are currently working against european partners and neighbours. Even if these countries are violating human rights. A subject that Germany likes to teach to other european countries. Germany has the problem, that their economy is really connected and dependent on states that are violating human rights, are working and fighting against EU member states and are even starting to dictate german firms what they can and should do to be able to do their business (Belarus, Saudi-Arabia, Azerbaijan). It's levels above the USA and worse. One of the biggest firm in Germany, VW, is cooperating with Chinas ethnical cleansing and using Uyghurs working force as cheap labour. This or they just coincidentally build their new factories just hundreds of meters away from the concentration camps and Uyghurs are just coincidentally walking from the factory to the concentration camp. |