BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

07/10/2008

"Time to turn the page" on EU-Belarus ties: OSCE

Tarmo Virki , Reuters

MINSK - The time has come to thaw relations between Europe and Belarus, the chairman of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe said on a rare visit to the ex-Soviet state by a senior Western official.

Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb was meeting President Alexander Lukashenko a week after a parliamentary election judged by the OSCE to have fallen short of international norms but with improvements in the vote.

Belarus has been isolated from the West for over a decade. The European Union and the United States repeatedly accused Lukashenko of rigging elections, jailing opponents and stifling independent media.

"My message is clear - it is time to turn the page in Belarussian-European relations," Stubb told Lukashenko. "There is a clear mood that Belarus is moving in the right direction."

Both the United States and the European Union have imposed financial sanctions and a travel ban on Lukashenko and 40 officials. EU officials said before the election that some punitive measures could be eased if the poll went well.

The OSCE said the campaign and poll were generally well conducted, but criticised the vote count. Not a single opposition candidate won a seat in the new parliament.

"Surely no one can deny that there has been an improvement from the 2004 to the 2008 election," Stubb said.

Stubb aims to strengthen ties with the OSCE and speak to officials before a meeting next week in Luxembourg of EU foreign ministers and their Belarussian counterpart, Sergei Martynov.

Martynov is not among those subject to entry restrictions.

Tuesday's talks were clearly friendly. Reporters said the two men chatted about ice hockey, the national game of both countries.

"This visit is a serious signal first of all to Europe that you must talk with Belarus," Lukashenko told Stubb. "If the European Union takes two steps, we will take five."

The only other senior Western official to visit Belarus in the past several years was U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State David Merkel who came in August for talks on improving ties after authorities freed opposition activists.

Lukashenko has sought better relations with the West after a row last year with traditional ally Russia over energy prices.

He is maintaining a balancing act between the 27-member bloc to the West and Moscow. Belarus resisted pressure from Moscow and stopped short of recognizing Georgia's breakaway republics after Russia's war with its southern neighbour in August.

But the issue will be put to a vote in parliament and Lukashenko has said he is not moving out of the Russian orbit.

Lukashenko said before meeting Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Monday that Belarus would never trade its traditional links with Russia for good relations with the West.

With files from Andrei Makhovsky and Sabina Zawadzki

Source:

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=c0ffe09d-e31d-4741-8d37-83e68c8e7d79

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