BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

20/11/2006

EU tells Belarusians 'what they are missing'

By Andrew Rettman

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Commission has drafted a blueprint of what Belarusian people could expect if the country normalised relations with the EU, in an attempt to undermine the official Minsk message that "nobody in the west is waiting" for political reform in the country.

The commission will on Tuesday (21 November) deliver a policy paper - obtained by Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza - called "What the European Union could bring to Belarus" to Minsk's embassy in Brussels, officials in Belarus and leading NGOs in what has been dubbed "the last dictatorship in Europe."

The text calls for 12 areas of reform in Belarus, focusing on: fair elections; free press; freeing of political prisoners; independent investigations of disappeared persons; freedom for workers to join trade unions and setting up an independent judiciary.

In return, the paper explains, the EU would: boost aid for Belarusian hospitals, schools, roads, sewers and small businesses; ease textile exports; ease visa conditions and "have a close dialogue and cooperation with Belarus' democratically-elected leaders."

"The EU stands ready to renew its relationship with Belarus and its people, as soon as the Belarusian government demonstrates respect for democratic values," the communique states.

"This has never been done before," a European Commission official told EUobserver. "We want to send a signal to the Belarusian people of what they are missing - so to speak - by staying out of the European Neighbourhood Policy."

"This is very timely," Belarus opposition leader Aleksander Milinkevich told Gazeta Wyborcza. "The propaganda always tells us we cannot count on the EU, because nobody is waiting for us in Europe. And here we have a document confirming the EU is waiting for Belarus."

Interesting timing

The commission move also comes at a time when Belarus is facing a quadrupling of Russian gas prices from $50 per thousand cubic metres to $230 from 2007 onward, at the same time as Russia is pressing the country into an unwanted, closer political union.

"There may come a time when [president Aleksander] Lukashenko begins to turn to Europe as his only hope of easing pressure from the Russian side," a contact at the Bratislava-based NGO, Pontis, predicted earlier this year.

"Belarus is open for all kinds of dialogue," president Lukashenko told Belarusian media last week on Brussels' plan to open a European Commission office in Minsk. "We create no obstacles for anyone willing to work in Belarus, but also we don't want anyone to 'come with a sword'."

The EU imposed a visa ban and asset freeze sanctions on 35 Belarus officials in the wake of a crackdown on opposition activists since March, with reports saying that pro-democracy campaigner Aleksander Kozulin is suffering badly from a three week-long hunger strike in jail.

The commission has in the past faced NGO criticism over foot-dragging in its support for Belarus pro-democracy movements in contrast to the US' hawkish style of funding underground groups, with EU plans to impose mini-trade sanctions on Minsk unravelling last month due to internal squabbles in Brussels.

Source:

http://euobserver.com/9/22907