in solidarity with the Burmese people, “France must adopt strong measures and position itself without ambiguity”

Tribune. While in Burma the repression continues to befall the population, as the deaths number in the hundreds and the specter of a generalized civil war grows more threatening every day, we, the elected representatives of the Republic, urgently ask the French government to become more involved in supporting the Burmese people and democracy.

This implies that it recognizes the parallel government – National Unity Government (NUG) – established on April 16, that it supports at the level of the European Union (EU) the adoption of more targeted sanctions against the junta, while making pressure on the Total group.

Let us recall that the NUG is the government of national unity formed by the Representative Committee of Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) – the name of the Burmese bicameral Parliament – a parallel assembly mainly composed of parliamentarians from the National League for Democracy (LND), the party Aung San Suu Kyi who won 83.2% of the seats in the November 2020 elections but was unable to sit following the military coup.

A “third package of sanctions”

Today, the junta wants to dissolve the NLD, which it accuses without proof of electoral fraud. It is therefore essential to act as quickly as possible and to support the legitimate authorities in resistance who have adopted a charter for a federal democracy, bearer of hopes for the unity of the country.

We welcome the inclusion by the European Union of twenty-one individuals on its blacklist and the sanctioning on April 19 of the two military-controlled conglomerates, Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL). and the Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC). But the EU must go further, in particular by targeting the oil and gas sector.

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Before the National Assembly, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, Secretary of State to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, recently argued that if the discussions initiated at the level of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) were not progressing, a “Third package of sanctions” would be studied at EU level, evoking a possible questioning of trade preferences with Burma. However, everything has not yet been done to target the vast economic interests and sources of income of the junta.

From now on, France must promote the sanctions against public Burmese companies in the gas and oil sector (Myanmar Gas and Oil Enterprise / MOGE), precious stones, wood and pearls (Myanmar Gems Enterprise / MGE, Myanmar Timber Enterprise / MTE, Myanmar Pearl Enterprise / MPE). Since the coup d’etat of 1er February, these companies indeed represent a considerable financial windfall for the junta, of which they are now under the direct control.

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