BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

22/04/2008

EU commissioner says no plans to cut visa fees for Belarus

(STRASBOURG) - The European Commission currently has no plans to lower visa fees for Belarussians, an official said Monday, despite fears their high cost indirectly supports the country's autocratic regime.

"The opening of discussions on a possible facilitation of issuing visas is not envisaged at this point with Belarus," European Commissioner Jacques Barrot said Monday at a debate in the European Parliament.

Since Belarus' EU neighbors joined Europe's Schengen zone last December, within which there are no border checks, Belarussians have had to obtain a 60-euro (95-dollar) visa valid for the entire zone, whereas they could previously enter Poland for just five euros.

Non-governmental organisations said the high fee is worth about a third of the average Belarussian's monthly income.

Eurodeputies added their voices to a growing chorus of critics who say the fee contradicts the EU's stated policy of not isolating ordinary Belarussians despite ratcheting up the pressure on the country's leadership.

Polish ex-presidents Lech Walesa and Aleksander Kwasniewski and their Czech counterpart Vaclav Havel made a joint appeal earlier this year for the EU to unilaterally slash the fee, saying isolating average Belarussians strengthens the regime of Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko.

Source:

http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/1208835122.63

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