Lukashenka invited to Prague for summit, but nobody wants to see him there

On March 28 at the meeting of the foreign ministers of the European Union countries it was decided to invite the Belarusian dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka to the Eastern Partnership summit which is to take place in Prague on May 7.

As Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty correspondent Ahto Lobjakas informs from the place of the meeting in the Hluboka castle on the Vltava river, the main adversary of the Belarusian dictator’s invitation was Maxime Verhagen, Foreign Minister of the Netherlands. He demanded guarantees of the chairman of the European commission that despite of the invitation sent to Lukashenka, Belarus would be presented by Foreign Minister Syarhei Martynau. Otherwise the Dutch diplomat threatened the Belarusian dictator’s public exposure at the summit.

“A decision was adopted that in line with the unspoken agreement an invitation would be given to Lukashenka, but he won’t arrive to Prague on May 7, and will send his foreign minister of other official instead. Thus, it would be possible to provide Belarus’ participation and at the same time avoid unpleasant scenes,” correspondent Ahto Lobjakas informed.

Summing up the results of the meeting, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana stated: “It is a very important summit, and we would like everyone to be represented there”. As said by Ahto Lobjakas, many politicians interpret this statement as “all the countries”, but not “all the leaders”.