EU has reneged on declared commitment to freedom of movement, interpersonal contacts...

The European Union has reneged on its declared commitment to freedom of movement and interpersonal contacts and also the 1975 Helsinki Final Act by raising Schengen visa fees for Belarusians to ?60, Foreign Minister Syarhey Martynaw told Reuters on Thursday, according to the foreign ministry.

“For its part, Belarus has repeatedly proposed holding talks over this issue, but Brussels has unfortunately been reluctant so far,” he said. The European Union (EU) should “stop citing some formal reasons and make a bold, unbureaucratic commitment to in-depth talks.”

Unlike the EU, Belarus has even taken some unilateral steps to simplify the visa procedure for the Europeans in the recent years, he noted.

Mr. Martynaw said that Belarus does not want to use this argument as a casus belli (a Latin expression which means justification for acts of war). The Belarusian government only hopes that the EU is wise enough to spare a thought for the interests of neighboring countries, he added.

EU representatives have said on numerous occasions that unlike Ukraine, Moldova and Russia, Belarus has not signed an agreement on a simplified visa regime with the European Union, therefore its citizens have to pay ?60 instead of ?35 to get a Schengen visa. A precondition for signing such an agreement is full participation in the European Neighborhood Policy.

The European Union “stands ready to develop a close relationship with Belarus and its people as soon as the Belarusian government demonstrates respect for democratic values and for the basic rights of the Belarusian citizens,” the Kyiv-based Delegation of the European Commission to Belarus and Ukraine said in a statement in late November.

Nine countries joined the Schengen zone on December 21, including the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.