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The European Union has responded in the strongest possible terms to the Belarusian hijacking of a Ryanair flight by suspending the country from Eurovision for three years.
The flight from Athens to Vilnius in Lithuania was forced to land in Belarus under the pretence of a bomb threat, purely to arrest a journalist on board, Roman Protasevich, who was deemed “inconvenient” to the Belarusian authorities.
However, the EU has now flexed its muscles to show that it does not approve of hijacking in any shape or form, and will not tolerate such behaviour from countries that enjoy the peripheral benefits of bordering with the EU.
“If this doesn’t show them we mean business then we don’t know what will,” said EU supremo Ursula von der Leyen.
“We had considered letting them stay in Eurovision and humiliating them on a global stage by repeatedly giving them zero points, but that doesn’t seem to have improved the behaviour of the UK, so we decided we must go one step further.
“I almost feel sick taking Eurovision away from them for three years, and we know that innocent Belarussians will suffer in unimaginable ways as a result, but this is the price rogue states must pay if they breaking international law like this.
“Let’s see how the Belarussian government deals with the outrage amongst its people when they learn the government is responsible for losing Eurovision access.
“I expect rioting on the streets within hours.”
