British Ambassador: Belarus Could Become EU Member Someday :: Charter'97 :: News

“The European Union does not exclude that Belarus could become its member one day, certainly if it would be the desire of the Belarusians themselves,” said the British ambassador to Belarus Brian Bennett at the meeting with students of the Belarusian National Technical University (BNTU) in Minsk on February 25. He underscored that in addition to desire to join the EU, the country should also meet certain requirements of the organization. For Belarus to meet the EU requirements “it should walk a long way”, British ambassador believes. At the moment, he said, “we are dissatisfied” with the situation with human rights, mass media crackdown, shut down of newspapers and NGOs in Belarus, and by “very slow” reforming of economy. He also emphasized that the European countries, the Great Britain in particular, “would be happy” to share with Belarus their experience in the sphere of reforms, however, it is essential that such a desire should come from the country itself”.