European Commission Ready to Help Belarus with Reforms :: Charter'97 :: News

The European Commission is ready to lend technical and consultative support to Belarus in exchange for a certain “mitigation” of the regime, said the European Commission’s Director General for External Relations Eneko Landaburu at a conference “The European Union and Belarus: New Challenges” organized by the largest group of the European Parliament, the European People’s Party – European Democrats. As we have informed, a delegation of Belarusian opposition headed by the leader of democratic forces Alyaksandr Milinkevich is taking part in the conference in Brussels.

“The EU is ready to give Belarus even such preferences as to Ukraine, but in exchange to democratic reforms,” E. Landaburu said.

He noted that to start providing assistance to Belarus by the EU, Belarus is to fulfil several conditions. Firstly, to release Alyaksandr Kazulin and all other political prisoners, to issue a visa to the OSCE representative and to give a permission for opening a mission of the European Commission in Minsk.

Besides, as said by the European Commission’s Director General for External Relations, it would be good for Belarusian regime to start observing rights of independent trade unions in line with recommendations of the International Labour Organization., to provide for activities of independent NGOs.

The representative of the European Commission notes that the last decision of Minsk concerning the Belarusian Helsinki Committee gives grounds for restrained optimism.