BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

18/02/2009

EU's Solana heads for Belarus as relations thaw

(BRUSSELS) - EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Wednesday he would make his first trip to Belarus on Wednesday, in a sign of thawing relations with hardline President Alexander Lukashenko.

"It is the first time I will be in Minsk and I would like to pass the message that we would like to get closer to your country," Solana told reporters in Brussels before heading for the capital of the former Soviet republic later Wednesday.

"Important decisions have been taken (by the Belarus authorities) but these decisions have to be accompanied by responsibility in all domains," he added.

His announcement came the day after Lukashenko -- dubbed Europe's last dictator by the US -- said he was ready to work with the European Union but only on his terms.

The Belarus government recently freed its remaining political prisoners and invited the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to observe legislative elections.

Loyalists of the autocratic Lukashenko won every seat in September's parliamentary polls which were also widely condemned by the US government and Western observers.

Solana will meet Lukashenko on Thursday, along with Foreign Minister Sergei Martinov, the Belarus foreign ministry said, adding that the main theme of the talks will be "perspectives for cooperation between Belarus and the European Union."

However the EU foreign policy chief stressed that he would also hold talks with opposition leaders in the former Soviet republic.

Among those due to meet with Solana is one-time Belarus presidential candidate Alexander Milinkevich.

Solana added there were also plans to meet civil society and media figures saying, "I share the concern that some of the media do have about freedom of the media."

Last October, EU foreign ministers suspended a travel ban on Lukashenko and several associates in a move designed to encourage democracy in the wake of the disputed elections.

Now only four figures deemed responsible for disappearances in the country in 1999-2000, as well as Belarussian electoral commission head Lydia Yermoshina, remain on the travel ban list.

If Belarus makes progress along the democratic road it could also become part of the EU's new 'Eastern Partnership' scheme which it plans to set up with other former Soviet satellites Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

The partnership is due to be launched in Prague in May, though no decision has yet been taken on the involvement on Belarus.

Czech Deputy Prime Minister Alexandra Vondra, visiting Brussels, spoke of "modest improvements" in Belarus, citing the fact that two opposition publications have been printed and sold without interference since December.

He also pointed out that Minsk, like the EU, had not recognised the independence of the Russian-backed separatist Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

"We have not yet made a decision yet (on an invitation to the Eastern Partnership summit) ... We'll act according to the situation," said Vondra, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency.

Solana's visit will help the European Union decide on that point.

Hours after the announcement of Solana's visit, two Belarus opposition figures freed last year at the EU's request were charged with "destruction of property" and could face further jail time, their lawyer said in Minsk.

The move is "a slap in the face for Europe and a demonstration of the so-called liberalisation" of the regime, fellow opposition figures said in a statement.

Lukashenko has ruled the ex-Soviet republic of 10 million people in an authoritarian fashion since 1994, keeping in place a Soviet-style command economy even as the region adopted free market policies.

Source:

http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/1234976522.06

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