Forced Ryanair landing must have consequences, EU Commissioner says
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The forced landing of a Ryanair plane in Minsk must have consequences, the European Union’s Transport Commissioner Adina Valean said on Sunday, after Lithuania called for EU countries to recommend that flights avoid Belarusian airspace.
“We need to verify all the facts and passengers on board – we cannot do this until the arrival (of the Ryanair plane) in Vilnius,” Valean wrote on Twitter.
“This kind of situation will have consequences.”
Lithuania on Sunday called for European Union countries to jointly recommend that planes avoid Belarusian airspace, after a Ryanair flight was forced to land in Minsk and an opposition activist on board detained.
The proposal for a joint declaration will be put forward at a meeting of European leaders on Monday and will include a call to recognize the incident as a violation of International Civil Aviation Organisation rules, the foreign ministry said.
Lithuania has also asked its EU allies to summon Belarusian ambassadors and to protest against the use of military aircraft to divert planes.
“This is a brutal affront against all (the) EU,” Lithuania’s foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said in a statement.
Malta’s Foreign Minister Affairs Minister Evarist Bartolo said it is unacceptable, and unprecedented, to force a landing of a commercial flight between two European cities, and jeopardise the safety of passengers in such way. The safety of all passengers and crew must be ensured.
