On Tuesday 30 January, European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy Johanes Hahn and Belarus's Minister for Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei hailed the rapprochement between the EU and Belaurs over the last few years.
"Since the lifting of the restrictive measures two years ago, our relations have developed further (see EUROPE 11490). The EU aims to build greater links between the EU and Belarus and to support reforms which have a direct positive impact for the people of Belarus", Hahn said at a joint press conference with Makei during his first visit to Minsk since spring 2015. Makei meanwhile stated that "over recent years we have noted significant success". "The dialogue is developing very dynamically and we would like such dynamics to continue in the future", he added.
Makei highlighted the significant increase in economic and trade cooperation, saying that exports to the EU had risen by 32% for the first 11 months of 2017. "New prospects in trade and economic cooperation are opening up with the start of a large-scale operation in our country from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and with the arrival of the European Investment Bank", he added.
The two parties discussed the ongoing negotiations on the 'partnership priorities', which according to Makei will become the roadmap for EU-Belarus relations by 2020 in different areas: effective governance, economic development, transport, energy efficiency and the fight against climate change, and people-to-people contact. He said he hoped these partnership priorities might be signed "in the near future".
Makei also hailed "more diverse and intense" sectoral cooperation. Hahn mentioned trade, but also issues of migration, asylum and border management. The two parties are also working in the framework of a joint action plan in the customs area. The Belarusian party decided to send a representative from the national committee of customs to Brussels.
As a sign of this increased cooperation, the bilateral financial support of the EU rose to €29 million in 2016, compared with €14.5 million the previous year. According to Hahn, the EU "strongly supports the development of the regional and private sector, particularly of SMEs" and civil society. He also spoke at length about Belarus's participation in the Eastern Partnership.
Human rights still questioned
But the relationship is not without some difficulty. The negotiations on visa liberalisation, which started in 2014, are slow-going. "The negotiation is still delicate. I am sure that we will find a solution to the problems that are still on the agenda. And with new progress in the development of our relations, we will come to the need to sign these agreements on the liberalisation of the visa regime and readmission", Makei said. Hahn reiterated that the EU was in favour of free movement but that the conditions had to be fulfilled. In 2016, there were 695,615 Belarusians who applied for a Schengen visa and the application rejection rate was only 0.26%.
Human rights are just as complex a subject. "It is not a secret that the sensitive issues are in the sphere of human rights and the development of democratic processes in our region", Makei recognised. Hahn underlined this issue. "Our human rights dialogue supports implementation of reforms in this key area where tangible steps are needed to address concerns about the human rights situation, the rule of law, fundamental freedoms and particularly the continued application of capital punishment", he said. Belarus is the last country in Europe to use the capital punishment. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)