BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

20/10/2008

Opposition leader: Belarus needs clever EU help

Belarus needs EU help coupled with political conditions in order to reform, otherwise the country will end up in the arms of Russia, the country's opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich told EurActiv Czech Rep. in an interview.

Alexander Lukashenko, the President of Belarus, has recently changed his mind about joining the Russian Federation, according to Milnkevic who says the Kremlin's support to the Belarus regime in economic, diplomatic and political terms has dropped.

Since then, Lukashenko has started looking toward the West, Milinkevic argues, and this is why he has freed political prisoners and allowed opposition candidates to run in the recent parliamentary elections (EurActiv 29/09/08).

"For us, launching reforms is the way to preserve Belarus independence," says Milinkevich, who considers that, for Lukashenko, these reforms are only a way to stay in power. The greater objective from the point of view of the democratic opposition is to distance Belarus from Russia, says Milinkevich. He advises that Western help should be coupled with political conditions, adding that "the regime makes pro-reform steps but at the same time fears them."

Encouraged by the fact that Belarus did not recognise the Georgia breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, EU Ministers for the first time recently invited the Belarus Foreign Minister to an EU meeting in Luxembourg and suspended a travel ban on Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and other officials (EurActiv 14/10/08).

Asked to comment about these latest developments, Milinkevic said the opposition was "happy there is some kind of dialogue", adding that this and any future meetings with regime representatives should be conditional upon releasing all political prisoners in Belarus.

Milinkevich estimated the weight of the opposition in Belarus as about one third of the electorate. He admitted that apathy was a great enemy of society, but said the opposition did not possess the skills to persuade people to get involved against the regime.

The leader of the Belarus opposition commended the Czech Republic for having been "always very active in helping solve Belarusian problems" and expressed optimistic expectations from the forthcoming Czech EU Presidency. He said Prague was to be congratulated for adding moral value in EU decision making.

Source:

http://www.euractiv.com/en/enlargement/opposition-leader-belarus-needs-clever-eu-help/article-176520

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