The Window to Europe or “the breakthrough” that never happened

When commenting the results of the year 2007, the Belarusian authorities proudly stated that Belarus “experienced a breakthrough in international relations”. The independent experts, though, think that it is an overestimation: Belarus had no successes in foreign affairs that year.

MFA: “positive dynamics”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus, represented by press-secretary Andrei Popov “has positively estimated the dynamics of the relations between Belarus and the EU in 2007”.

Mr. Popov mentioned: “We happily state that there was a series of important cooperative events with the EU and its friend-states last year”.

The press-secretary of Belarusian MFA used visits of  various officials of the EU and Belarus, consultations and talks on different subjects, cooperative seminars and conferences as examples.

“We hope that the opening of the Eurocommission representative office in Minsk will create a basis for further strengthening and development of our relations with the EU in such mutually beneficial spheres as energy and energy saving, transport and transit, ecology, border service cooperation, scientific and technological cooperation etc.,”– Andrei Popov said.

The press-secretary of the Belarusian foreign policy ministry expressed hopes that “the positive dynamics” in the development of the Belarus-EU relations “will transform into serious practical results and breach of the artificial barriers in the way of the mutually beneficial cooperation”.

Kostian: “a breakthrough in international relations”

Representative Sergei Kostian is even more optimistic. He thinks that in 2007 Belarus has “experienced a breakthrough in international relations”, and the foreign policy of the country “has a great future”.

Among the countries that, in Kostian’s opinion, have good relations with Belarus, a member of the House of Representatives of Belarusian Parliament named the EU.

Sergei Kostian mentioned that “many European countries rapidly develop economic relations with Belarus”. “Take, for example, Germany, that is currently our second most important trade partner. We have are on good terms  with other EU countries too – with Slovakia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland”, – Kostian thinks.

Weiss: “hope for smoothing the political contradictions”

The European diplomats express far more reserved opinions about the development of the Belarus-EU relations. For example, Gebhardt Weiss, the ambassador of Germany in Belarus, in an interview to BELTA mentioned positive dynamics in the spheres of economy and culture, but also said that there are still “certain political contradictions”.

“There is a chance that this year will bring a breakthrough even in those fields, where there is some miscommunication. In particular I hope for smoothing some political contradictions. There is a well-known EU program for that. It is still an important part of our policy, especially nowadays”, – Mr. Weiss mentioned.

The “well-known program” was, obviously, the 12 conditions that Belarus must fulfill to receive the full-scale support from the EU. And many EU officials spoke about its importance.

Viachorka: “there is no positive perception of the current regime”

The opposition, in its turn, see no reason to talk about any “breakthrough” – especially regarding the relations wioth the European Union.

“Breakthrough? It is a lie. I would like to see facts, supporting the statement that last year the authorities have experienced some kind of “breakthrough”, – Vintsuk Viachorka, the vice-chairman of the BNF party, commented.

“Such a breakthrough could’ve been, for example, a cooperative conference between the authorities, Belarusian democratic organizations and European representatives discussing the democratic elections in Belarus. And when some official from the MFA in invited somewhere – where’s a breakthrough in that? As a country we are far behind even the Balkans, still suffering from the curse of war, in developing the relations with Europe. And personally I don’t see any positive perception of the current regime by the European politicians”, – Mr. Viachorka mentioned in an interview to Eurobelarus.info

Matskevich: “nothing has changed dramatically”

Vladimir Matskevich, an expert of the Humanitarian technology agency, also says that Belarus has experienced no “breakthrough in foreign affairs”. “Nothing has changed dramatically. The technical works on some aspects, like trade or border services. But nothing more. In the spheres, where Belarus and Europe have the most problems, the finding of the solutions is delayed, let alone the breakthrough. When the vice-minister of foreign affairs is giving a speech and his European colleagues listen to him attentively, it, in fact, proves nothing”.

What regards the statement of Sergei Kostian, it, in expert’s opinion, “shows that the foreign policy vector of Belarus is changing”, but it “is changing too slowly and insufficiently”.

“Kostian’s speech about Europe shows that there are no anti-european atmosphere in Belarusian parliament. But nothing has changed dramatically. No one has enough influence and strong enough position to change something in Belarusian policy towards Europe,”– Vladimir Matskevich mentioned.  

In expert’s mind, a big problem is that Belarus is still “unsure in its attitude towards major European organizations”. Though, Mr. Matskevich thinks that it isn’t a must for Belarus to join the Council of Europe.

“Belarus isn’t even a full-fledged member of the EU Neighbourhood program. But this program is vital for us. We could move towards joining the EU or no – it depends on the will of the people. Norway, for example, is not a member of the EU. But developing a good relationship with Europe and make our laws compatible is an acute necessity”, – Vladimir Matskevich thinks.

Andrei Aliaksandrau

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