Raman Jakauleuski: EU has no general policy towards Lukashenka regime

Europe’s lack of a coordinated policy towards Belarus has led to the reduction of the black list.

Such an opinion came from a political observer Raman Jakauleuski’s interview to the charter97.org web-site, as he commented on Jean-Claude Juncker’s elections as the president of the European Commission.

- What, in your view, will be the policy of United Europe towards Belarus after the former Luxemburg Prime Minister, a supporter of stronger integration within the EU has been elected the president of the European Commission?

- As to Belarus, I would say that the European Union has no general coordinated policy. That is why each member state sees for themselves. For example, Poland’s policy differs from the one of Italy.

- Did this detached policy making result in yet another reduction of the European Union’s black list?

- I would say that the reduction of the sanctions list is to a certain degree a mockery. Because part of the eight people, who were crossed off the list, cannot leave Belarus either way, since they are behind bars. For example, the former deputy Prosecutor General Aliaksandr Arkhipau. At the same time there is a tendency towards a softer Europe’s policy as to the Lukashenka regime. Some observers claim that official Minsk has managed to impose their own format of a dialogue with Brussels. I would like to point out that this happened, among others, due to the actors, who welcome that. I mean certain representatives of Belarusian declared opposition, defending the regime, and also certain “brainiacs”, who think that political prisoners should be forgotten and it should be at all forgotten, what happened on 19 December 2010.

- What will the sanctions lifting lead to?

- Here I would repeat the words of Belarus Foreign Minister Uladzimir Makej, which he said in one of the latest interviews. He said that he saw no changes in the relations with the European Union, because instead of one set of demands, there would be others. At the same time, there remain dreamers, who confuse hopes for the better with illusions regarding the softening of the regime. Declarations are one thing, while actions are another. I would remind here, that the names of the main Belarusian oligarchs, who support Lukashenka, have vanished from the media. I mean Chyzh etc. This is also a bad sign for the adherents of a democratic Belarus.

This means that in the set of a dialogue between Minsk and the EU there is a tendency: business goes separately from human rights. Although it is exactly this business that supports the regime, which in its turn stands accused of human rights violations. I do not rule out that next to be crossed off the black list may be the names of these people. Piefcijeu appealed to a number of courts on the subject of sanctions lifting. Thus, we can see the picture, in which these oligarchs take into consideration the rule of law nature of western countries and make use of that.

We would remind that yesterday former Luxumburg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker has become the president of the European Commission. His appointment took an unprecedented procedure, since it was set not by a consensus, as usual, but a vote. The reason was the open reluctance of the UK, which is schedule an EU exit referendum in 2017, to see in this position Juncker - an ardent supporter of greater integration within the European Union.