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Lukashenka: Eurasian Economic Union should have status of international organization

The Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) should have the status of international organization, Alyaksandr Lukashenka said at his meeting with the Kazakh and Russian counterparts in Moscow on December 24.

The three countries plan to launch the EEU on January 1, 2015.

Mr. Lukashenka said that work on the institutional part of a treaty establishing the tight economic union had already been completed. However, he warned that government experts had failed to reach agreement on a number of "sensitive issues," which "prevents us from moving further," according to Russia's news agency RIA Novosti.

Mr. Lukashenka reportedly raised objections to calls for launching the EEU without the formal status of international organization. "I am certain that the union should be an international organization that would have an appropriate legal standing," he was quoted as saying.

Belarus suggests a clear demarcation between the jurisdictions of the union and its member states, said Mr. Lukashenka, adding that it would lead to fewer disputes within the organization.

Mr. Lukashenka warned that all decisions made by the union's council of heads of state should be obligatory for all parties. He also said that the heads of state should be able to annul decisions made by the union's regulatory body. //BelaPAN