Luxembourg, 10/04/2006 (Agence Europe) - On Monday, as expected, EU Foreign Affairs Ministers, meeting in Luxembourg under the Chairmanship of Ursula Plassnik, adopted a common position imposing a visa ban on 31 Belarus leaders, including President Alexander Lukashenko. The EU considers that these 31 people, to be added to the six already hit by the same ban since 2004, are the main culprits for fixing the Presidential elections on 19 March, the violent repression of the democratic opposition and civil society and other human rights violations. As well as Mr Lukashenko, the list includes the Head of the President's administration and his Deputy, the Ministers for Education, Information and Justice, the president of the Lower House in Parliament, the Presidents of the Foreign Affairs Committees from the Upper House and Lower House, the Head of the national state TV and radio company, the State Prosecutor, Senior civil servants in the Department of Justice, the Prosecutor and several judges from the Minsk district, the Head and Deputies of the KGB, the Head of the unions and Presidents from the central election commission in several regions.
The visa ban is in force forthwith. It will be valid for a year but could be renewed. On Monday, Ministers agreed that the list is not exhaustive, would remain open and that names could be added to it at any moment. This regular re-evaluation of the list will be done in light of the release and rapid rehabilitation of all political prisoners and reform of the electoral code (in view of making it compatible with OSCE standards of which Belarus is a member). Ministers also said that revision of the list would also depend on conduct in future elections and concrete action by the authorities for respecting democratic values, the rule of law, human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of expression and the press, as well as freedom of political association. The Council is not ruling out the possibility of adopting supplementary “targeted” measures in future, such as a freezing of financial assets, which are already being prepared. In their conclusions Ministers explained that such measures will not be directed against the Belarusian population.
On the contrary: all Ministers insisted on Monday for the need to strengthen direct and indirect EU support for Belarus civilians. Two concrete measures were at the centre of the debate: aid to the independent media and welcoming students expelled from universities for taking part in the opposition movement. On Monday we learned that on this final point, several countries (notably the Visegrad countries: Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia) have already begun discussions on how to help students. Other Ministers indicated that they were prepared to so something, for example, by increasing aid to people in the regions most affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986, explained diplomats. In its conclusions, the Council reaffirms its determination to establish a dialogue with Belarus society and to strengthen its support for civil society and democracy. The conclusions stipulated that the EU will also increase and facilitate contacts between the people and strengthen access to independent information sources.
Although there is still no sign that President Lukashenko is prepared to go down the democratic road, the Council did describe what Belarus could expect, if it did do an about-turn: “the European Union remains open to developing bilateral relations with Belarus, including the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement in the European Neighbourhood Policy, on the condition that the Belarus authorities demonstrate a sincere desire for respecting Human Rights, the Rule of Law and democratic freedoms, and begin democratic reforms”.
The Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cyril Svoboda, informed the press that he was disappointed by the Council results. Firstly, because the list of persons covered by the visa ban was “too short”, and secondly because the leader of the Belarus opposition, Alexander Milinkevitch had not been invited to take part in the Council meeting.