BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

30/04/2009

EU: Belarus, Moldova leaders to skip EU summit

LUXEMBOURG (AP) - A European Union diplomat said Thursday the leaders of Belarus and Moldova will probably not attend a summit May 7 at which the union will offer aid and trade accords to several ex-Soviet republics to ease Moscow's hold over them.

An EU diplomat said Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Voronin, his Moldovan counterpart, have not registered for the Prague summit.

"It is now past deadline for that. We have no indication of either showing up," said the diplomat, who asked not to be named given the sensitive nature of the issue.

The EU is eager to improve stability on its eastern doorstep through more trade, aid and political and security consultations with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

It has budgeted ý1.4 billion over the next four years for its 'Eastern Partnership,' which does not promise EU membership.

But Lukashenko runs Belarus like a Soviet-style economy. And contested April 5 election results in Moldova triggered violent protests in which two people died and hundreds were detained or mistreated.

No-shows by these two leaders is seen as good news at the EU. Germany and the Netherlands had said their leaders would stay home to avoid meeting with Lukashenko, the EU diplomat said.

Russia has expressed misgivings about EU plans to forge close economic and political ties with ex-Soviet republics.

The EU outreach gained impetus from Russia's war last summer in Georgia and the cutoff of Russian gas deliveries to Western Europe last January.

Source:

http://www.pr-inside.com/eu-belarus-moldova-leaders-to-skip-r1220560.htm

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