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Further development of bilateral relations between Belarus and the European Union, as well as Belarus’ place in a ten-year strategy of EU relations with the neighboring countries, depends solely on Belarus’ own decision, said in an interview to BelaPAN Diego Odjeida, press-secretary of the EU commissioner for external policy Chris Patten.

As we reported before, in March the European Commission, which is EU supreme executive body, approved the document, under which the EU intends to build relations with Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova and other neighboring countries, referred to as the “friendly circle of nations”.

According to Odjeida, the core essence of this strategy is this: EU proposes to its neighbors, Belarus included, a whole spectrum of variants of future cooperation in various spheres, which can be carried out without these countries’ accession to EU. In particular, these countries may get access to the “four freedoms”: free movement of people, goods, services and capitals. However, said Odjeida, in order to be able to do this the countries have to observe common European political and economic principles.

“We believe that our proposal must be regarded as a very beneficial deal, involving both sides. At the moment Belarus falls short of fulfilling the human rights criteria, which is the reason why her relations with EU leave much to be desired,” – underscored Odjeida. Meantime, he said, EU aspires to have closer political and economic ties with Belarus, which will turn its neighbor as soon as next year.

In order to successfully cooperate within the framework of the new strategy, Belarus must observe a range of economic and political criteria, said Odjeida. In particular, it has to reform the economy, create free market, limit the state’s intervention in the economy and provide favorable conditions for private investors. Moreover, the country’s got to stick to the fundamental UN and CoE principles, such as human rights and moratorium on capital punishment, entailing its further cancellation.