Javier Solana: Without freeing of all political prisoners cooperation in the field of energy is not possible :: Charter'97 :: News

Current political situation in Belarus prevents the European Union from development of the full-value relationship in the field of energy that was declared by Secretary-General of the Council of the EU and EU High Representative for the CFSP in his interview with the “Mirror” Ukrainian Weekly.

“Let me first note how much we appreciate our very close European Union – Ukraine cooperation on policy towards Belarus. Belarus is an important country for both of us and we both hope to see concrete steps taken towards democracy. This would be good for the Belarusian people, but also the region as a whole”. Secretary-General of the EU Council declared.

According to Javier Solana, the European Union policy on Belarus remains two-pronged: we have put in place restrictive measures targeted at individuals responsible for electoral misconduct and abuse, but we are also open to engaging with a broad range of counterparts, from civil society to the authorities. The Union has sent a clear message that it would be ready to extend to Belarus all the benefits of the European Neighborhood Policy. It is also true that Minsk would be ready to work with the European Union on fields such as energy and transport. However, concrete cooperation needs to be based on shared values. As long as Belarus is not willing to take the necessary steps to respond to our concerns, for instance the freeing of all political prisoners, such cooperation is not possible.

EU High Representative particularly mentioned that both the European Union and Ukraine have followed closely developments in the oil and gas relationship between Russia and Belarus. We have seen certain complications in the past year. In this context, we have called for transparent energy relations between the parties, in the same manner as we did during the gas crisis between Ukraine and Russia, in early 2006. All of us share concerns relating to energy security. However, the situation in Belarus unfortunately prevents us from concrete cooperation in the field of energy”, Javier Solana summed up.