English

Belarus and EU are walking in circles, Lyabedzka says

Belarus and the European Union are walking in circles, Anatol Lyabedzka, chairman of the United Civic Party (UCP), says in a statement issued on Wednesday, BelaPAN said.

Mr. Lyabedzka and a number of other Belarusian opposition politicians participated in a conference that was held in Brussles on Tuesday to assess the efficiency of the EU’s program called the European Dialogue on Modernization with Belarus.

Minsk and Brussels are currently at the point of transition from a glacial age to a thaw, and a number of organizations are tempted to capitalize on the trend, Mr. Lyabedzka comments.

For some reason, Belarusian political groups have distanced themselves from the European Dialogue on Modernization with Belarus, Mr. Lyabedzka says. As a result, some of the delegates to the conference suggested a parallel dialogue between the authorities and Brussels, he says. If the proposal is accepted, “the advocates of change would be left behind with their proposals and hopes on a forgotten platform, while the train would roll on along the tracks of authoritarian modernization,” he predicts.

It is necessary to encourage Belarusians to not only obtain cheap Schengen visas and travel abroad in search of better living conditions but also to take personal responsibility for improving the situation in Belarus, Mr. Lyabedzka says. This should be one of the objectives of the European Dialogue on Modernization with Belarus, he says.

Launched at the end of March 2012, the Dialogue is a multi-stakeholder exchange of views and ideas between the EU and representatives of Belarus’ civil society and political opposition on necessary reforms for the modernization of Belarus and on the related potential development of relations with the EU, as well as possible EU support in this regard. The dialogue focuses on four key areas for EU-Belarus relations: political reform, reform of the judiciary and person-to-person contacts, economic and sector policy issues, and trade and market reform.

The Belarusian government has so far ignored invitations to get involved in the program, which was designed specifically for Belarus.

As Andrey Yewdachenka, Belarus` ambassador to Belgium and the country`s permanent representative to the EU, told reporters in Minsk last June, Belarus would only work within programs that were jointly developed by the European Union and the Belarusian government.