The
House of Representatives’ International Affairs Committee on December 2 decided
to recommend the House to pass once again the ratification bill for an
agreement on the establishment of the European Commission’s delegation in Minsk.
The lower chamber of
the Belarusian National Assembly passed the bill on June 17, but the
upper chamber, the Council of the Republic, rejected the bill at a
closed-door meeting on October 9.
“It was inexpedient for the
Council to approve the bill at that time,” Valyantsina Leanenka, a
member of the International Affairs Committee, explained to BelaPAN.
According to her, it is most likely that the House of Representative
will take a vote on the bill on December 12. The text of the agreement
has not undergone change, she said.
The accord was signed at
the Commission’s office in Brussels on March 7 by Benita
Ferrero-Waldner, the European Union’s commissioner for external
relations and European neighborhood policy, and Belarusian Deputy
Foreign Minister Valery Varanetski.
Under the agreement, the
delegation, its head and members, and their family members living
together with them shall enjoy the rights, privileges and immunities
provided for by the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
The
European Commission applied to the Belarusian government for permission
to open its delegation in the country as far back as 2005. The draft
agreement was sent to Minsk at the same time. In April 2007, the
Belarusian authorities gave their consent to opening the delegation,
and the European Commission responded with sending the draft agreement
once again. Afterward, there was no visible progress toward giving the
consent a practical implementation. The foreign ministry linked that to
the need to complete what was called all necessary internal procedures.
On October 19, 2007, Alyaksandr Lukashenka
authorized the draft agreement to be the basis for negotiations about
the “institution, privileges and immunities” of the delegation. He
empowered Mr. Varanetski to hold the negotiations on behalf of Belarus.
The European Commission has about 120 delegations in third
countries and five delegations to international organizations such as
the OSCE and the United Nations. Their role is to explain and implement
the EU’s policies; analyze and report on the policies and developments
of the countries/institutions to which they are accredited; and conduct
negotiations in accordance with a given mandate.
All the arguments of opposition politicians for taking part in the elections resemble are rather self-justifications and attempts to find some space for themselves in this difficult political situation, believes the head of the Board of the...
«I don’t see any crime in the attempt of Belarusan police to learn something from German police. Everyone - from the highest ranks to the lowest ones - simply has to observe the law». Miachyslau Gryb, former Speaker of the Supreme Council of Belarus,...
We invite you to participate in a second edition of a unique and extraordinary contest for reporters, The Eastern Partnership Journalism Prize. If you are a journalist from one of the countries of Eastern Partnership (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus,...
Belarus is on the way to reaching a deadlock in all the directions, while the modernization of the country should be started with political reforms. And the first thing to do is to reject the authoritarian system of government in order to make it...
Policy field Global governance, International Cooperation, Development Target groups International Organisations, Government bodies, Academic institutions, Civil Society Organisations, Private Sector Organisations, Foundations, individuals. Period of...
Trans Cultura Foundation (Poland) together with Workshops of Culture (Poland) and partners: Suburb Cultural Centre (Armenia), United Artits’ Club (Azerbaijan), Lohvinau Publishing House (Belarus), GeoAIR (Georgia), Young Artists Asociation «Oberliht»...
The number of registered candidates representing opposition parties is on the average not much higher than that during previous parliamentary elections. Such an opinion was expressed to the Information Service of «EuroBelarus» by political scientist...
The first half of 2012 saw the main trend in the political democratization and liberalization segment carry on from the year 2011, as stagnation continued. There were new manifestations of administrative and criminal prosecution of democratic...
Basta is a social enterprise outside Stockholm. It began in 1994 helping people move away from drugs and criminality through qualified work, housing, and a meaningful spare time. Basta is a client-run social enterprise - in theory as well as in...
In early September, a presentation of the Flying University program for the new school year will be held. As recently experts have repeatedly talked about the problems of the Belarusian higher education, expanding the Flying University program requires...
The processes of political, economic, and cultural change in Europe have had a particularly strong impact upon the countries of Eastern Europe and their neighbours in the east. It is timely to reflect on and debate the ways in which Europe and the...
The sentence on the Pussy Riot band members demonstrates nonobservance of constitutional norm of secularism of the Russian state, supposes Uladzimir Matskevich, the head of the Board of the International Consortium «EuroBelarus
Next serial staff changes have been taking place in higher levels of the Belarusian government: Piotr Prokopovich [former Chairman of the Board of the National Bank of Belarus – EuroBelarus] was appointed as assistant to the President, and the...
The chairman of the International Consortium "EuroBelarus" Ulad Vialichka hopes that a diplomatic conflict with Sweden may calm down in a few months. However, it is very difficult, in his view, to accurately predict the development of bilateral...
The situation around the Belarusian authorities’ decision on the list of persons banned from travelling abroad looks not quite understood. On the one hand, a number of civil society activists and opposition politicians - Valiantsin Stefanovich, Andrei...
After Belarusian and Russian governments have signed the contract for construction of the nuclear power plant (NPP) in the Astravets district, and the cornerstone was laid on the site, the mission of anti-nuclear ecologists is not over. In contrast, it...
Youth internet forum "I am the leader!" organized by the Belarusian Republican Youth Union (BRSM) in the framework of the preparation for the election to the parliament took place in Minsk on August 16. The Forum organizers have gathered about 200...
Some participants of the current election campaign voice so many platitudes that induce the head of the Board of the International Consortium "EuroBelarus" Uladzimir Matskevich to speak directly and categorically, "Your experience, gentlemen, is scanty...
Chatham House, in partnership with the Robert Bosch Stiftung, invites scholars from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine to apply for a Visiting Fellowship at Chatham House in London.
He said Belarus would likely face economic tightening not only as a result of the coronavirus pandemic but also a Russian trade oil crisis that worsened this past winter.
In his report, philosopher Gintautas Mažeikis discusses several concepts that have been a part of the European social and philosophical thought for quite a time.
It is impossible to change life in cities just in three years (the timeline of the “Agenda 50” campaign implementation). But changing the structure of relationships in local communities is possible.