BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

17/04/2009

Czech president baulks at EU invitation to Belarus

(PRAGUE) - The Czech Republic's eurosceptic president Vaclav Klaus said Friday he will snub his Belarussian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko if he attends an EU summit in Prague with former Soviet republics.

Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg announced earlier Friday in Minsk that he had presented an invitation for Lukashenko to join the summit -- one of the last events on the Czech EU presidency calendar -- on May 7.

"The president is surprised by the double standards used," a statement from Klaus's office said. "He lets it be known that he will not shake Mr Lukashenko's hand nor receive him in Prague Castle."

The Prague summit is dedicated to an Eastern Partnership programme intended to develop ties with six non-EU states in the former Soviet bloc -- Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

Lukashenko's regime has been dubbed Europe's last dictatorship by the United States, but recent months have seen a warming of EU-Belarus ties, to the irritation of Russia.

Klaus, whose profile on the EU stage is likely to grow due to an imminent change of government in Prague, is known both for his euroscepticism and for taking positions close to Moscow.

Source:

http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/1239982323.02

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