BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

25/03/2010

An unequal approach

Belarus wants to develop relations with the EU, but the Union does not always respond in the right way.

I write in response to an article you published on Belarus, "A licence to unleash repression" (11-17 March).

My fundamental message to my European colleagues remains unchanged. Belarus is interested in developing relations with the EU to the full. This is not a time-winning tactic, but a principled position that fully corresponds to Belarus's national interests.

The decisions taken by the European Council in October 2008 created expectations that the EU's policy of isolating Belarus and its application of various forms of fruitless pressure had become a thing of the past and would be replaced by the logic of equal co-operation and engagement.

Dialogue has been established successfully in areas such as energy, transport, standardisation, agriculture and the environment. And co-operation within the framework of the Eastern Partnership programme demonstrates the potential both for a mutually beneficial economic relationship and for the gradual creation of a new, positive atmosphere of trust.

We also view as useful the co-operation and contacts established with European colleagues on a wide spectrum of issues related to democratisation and human rights. For us, these are not 'taboo' subjects. We have agreed to establish a human-rights dialogue with the EU, although the EU has yet to fulfil one of the conditions for that dialogue, an action plan between the EU and Belarus.

In this area, as in others, we believe dialogue should be established on the basis of equality and partnership, without any pressure and fully respecting the national specificities and features of Belarus.

Unfortunately, some of our partners in the EU, and especially in the European Parliament, appear unready to accept the philosophy of an equal and pragmatic approach to contacts with Belarus. They do not appear ready to show political courage and to reject the use of continuous pressure, finger-pointing and lecturing, all of which are approaches that have proven unproductive.

For example, some initiators of the Euronest programme - the parliamentary assembly for the Eastern Partnership - are acting in a provocative manner. They have adopted a position of political extremism, demanding that the Belarusian parliament agree to something that no state body in any sovereign country could agree to - namely, to 'co-operate' with Euronest on terms that are discriminatory and offensive, by giving seats in the assembly to Belarusians who are not members of the Belarusian parliament.

There is also general consternation at attempts by the Parliament to ignore the argument put forward by the parliaments of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine that Belarus should be able to participate in Euronest on an equal basis.

Such an approach is futile and harmful. It is difficult to understand the motivation of those who act in such a way; they are not only complicating contacts between Belarus and the EU, but also - and this is especially irresponsible - they are impeding the strengthening of the independence of the young Belarusian state.

Expectations are high on both sides. Not everything satisfies our partners in Brussels, but, it is important to emphasise, Belarus's fundamental expectations of the EU are also very far from being satisfied. This is the case in almost all areas of our co-operation, from politics to economics to people-to-people contact. We are still waiting for tangible results.

Vladimir Senko

Ambassador of Belarus to the EU

Brussels

Source:

http://www.europeanvoice.com/article/imported/an-unequal-approach/67508.aspx


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