BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

27/04/2006

EU dangles visas for prisoners offer to Belarus

By Andrew Rettman

EUOBSEREVER / BRUSSELS - The EU has hinted it might take names off the Belarus visa ban list if Minsk releases political prisoners, such as opposition leaders Alexander Milinkevich and Alexander Kazulin.

"That is one of the criteria that is very much there," top-level EU diplomat Pirkko Tapiola said at a debate in Brussels on Thursday (27 April), following an emotional appeal for help by the politicians' wives.

Other steps toward democratisation, such as better access to free press, will also be taken into account while considering taking names off the list, he added.

"We have demanded a number of times that prisoners are released. We deplore this very much," said Mr Tapiola, the Belarus policy advisor to EU foreign affairs chief Javier Solana.

"We are extremely concerned about the fate of your husbands," European Commission eastern Europe director Hugues Mingarelli added. "We are doing our best to release them."

Mr Milinkevich was thrown in jail for up to 15 days on Thursday morning after addressing a 10,000 strong anti?government protest in Minsk on the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster on Wednesday.

But Mr Kazulin, arrested shortly after the 19 March presidential elections, is up on charges that could see him put behind bars for several years.

The EU on 10 April extended its visa ban list from six to 37 Belarusian politicians after the OSCE deemed the 19 March vote to be a sham.

Member states and the US are also preparing to try and freeze the foreign financial assets of those on the blacklist, including billionaire president Aleksander Lukashenko.

A decision on the freeze is expected on 15 May, but US diplomats told EUobserver that "major banking centres" believed to be holding the cash are not keen to play ball.

Put Belarus on G8 summit

Mr Milinkevich's wife, Ina Kulei, and Belarusian opposition activists present at Thursday's debate also called on the EU to put Belarus on the agenda of the G8 summit in St Petersburg in July.

"Russia holds the chair of the G8 and we want pressure to be put on Russia to end its support for the regime in Belarus, "Alexander Atroshchankau, from the militant youth movement Zubr said.

The commission's Mr Mingarelli indicated that Belarus is on the table "in all of our political dialogue with Russia" but that "we have to recognise that so far this has had little effect."

Russia is the "800 pound gorilla in the room question" on Belarus, Mr Tapiola said.

Both men said the EU is seeking ways to work more flexibly with Belarusian NGOs and opposition candidates in the 2007 to 2013 EU budget period.

Mr Mingarelli said that a commission charge d'affaires, based in Kiev but spending most of his time in Minsk, will soon begin work to better grasp the needs of local activists.

The EU is also exploring ways to target Belarusian companies which directly enrich the political elite in the country - but so far there is no clear way of imposing trade bans without hurting the general Belarusian public.

Moment of truth

In a rare moment of self-criticism by Brussels, Mr Mingarelli admitted that the EU's previous aid efforts for Belarus have achieved little due to the EU's exigent NGO funding rules.

"It is true that we have not been able to do what you ask us," he stated. "I'm sure we could be more efficient. '

Brussels and old EU member states' attitude toward Belarus has significantly improved in the past two years in the eyes of MEPs such as Latvian conservative Aldis Kuskis however.

Pointing to the spectacle of veteran EU diplomat Mr Tapiola sitting side by side with young Zubr activist Mr Atroshchankau, he said "two years ago we couldn't get anybody [from the EU elite] to come to a meeting like this. "

Source:

http://euobserver.com/24/21460

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