Belarus Headlines 39

EU and Belarus six months after:achievements and challenges ahead. Discussions on EU-Belarus Relations Take Place in Brussels. The measures undertaken by the Belarusian authorities during a six-month period of visa ban suspension have not resulted in significant progress towards greater political freedom in Belarus. The government showed no inclination to proceed with institutional and systemic reforms, and steps of liberalisation have hitherto been largely cosmetic and reversible. Nonetheless, it is important to maintain and build on the positive dynamics created since the beginning of the Brussels-Minsk dialogue, and to give the Lukashenka regime some extra time by extending the visa ban suspension for another six months. This was the prevailing view among Belarus’ civil society representatives who visited Brussels in early March to participate in the events organised by the Office for a Democratic Belarus and its European partners. During a briefing for the members of the Political and Security Committee (PSC) of the EU Council and the Working Party on Eastern Europe and Central Asia (COEST) that was held in the Slovak Representation to the EU on 2 March 2009, Belarusian experts said the guiding motive of the ‘liberalisation’ campaign is survival needs of the present regime and its search for Western aid and investment.

• Месца выхаду: Brussels
• Дата выхаду: 2009-03-20
• Copyright: © 2009 by Belarus Headlines
• Кнігазбор: Kamunikat.org