English

EU expected to remove 13 Belarusian individuals, five companies from its blacklist

The Foreign Affairs Council of the European Union is expected to lift its sanctions against 13 citizens of Belarus and five Belarusian companies, Maira Mora, head of the EU Delegation to Belarus, said during an international conference in Vilnius on Monday.

The Council has concluded that there is no longer any reason for those individuals and companies to be on the EU`s blacklist, Ms. Mora said at the two-day conference, which focuses on possible strategies for the European Union`s engagement with Belarus.

At the same time, three names will be added to the list, she said, without specifying who would be included in the list and removed from it.

According to Ms. Mora, the Council will prolong the EU`s restrictive measures against the other Belarusian individuals and companies until October 31, 2014. She stressed that the EU would continue its policy of "critical engagement" with the Belarusian government, and that the removal of sanctions against some individuals and entities did not mean a policy change.

As many as 241 Belarusian citizens, including Alyaksandr Lukashenka, are currently subject to travel bans and 241 persons plus 30 business entities are subject to asset freezes within the EU.

Ms. Mora noted that the EU would continue to provide support to the Belarusian people. In the last two years, the bloc has increased the amount of assistance to Belarus` civil society and the Belarusian people in general, she said. The EU will pursue a more active dialogue with Belarusian civil society, including through its European Dialogue on Modernization with Belarus, she said. The program may potentially become a channel for communication with both civil society and the state, she said.

Ms. Mora expressed regret that although the EU had proposed Schengen visa facilitation talks to Belarus two years before, the Belarusian government so far has given no response to the proposal.

She stressed that the EU was ready to start discussing a detailed plan for Belarus` full-fledged participation in the Eastern Partnership as soon as Belarus took the "necessary steps." At present, Belarus may only be involved in multilateral projects within the framework of this program.

Ukraine will "dominate" the forthcoming Eastern Partnership summit, which is to take place in Vilnius on November 28 and 29, Mr. Mora said, explaining that the meeting was expected to result in the signing of an association agreement between the EU and Ukraine. She expressed hope that Belarus would dominate an Eastern Partnership summit to be held in her native city of Riga, Latvia, in two-year time.