Brussels, 06/02/2008 (Agence Europe) - The European Union has indicated that it would be prepared to relax the visa policy for Belarus, on the condition that the country make efforts in terms of the neighbourhood policy. This firm condition was reiterated on Monday 4 February by the French ambassador Mireille Musso, who represents the EU in Belarus, on behalf of Slovenia.
Ms Musso pointed out that the decision to reduce the price of visas (currently €60) for Belarusian nationals needs to be taken unanimously by all the member countries of the Schengen area. She added, however, that the Schengen agreements did not prevent Belarus's immediate neighbours which are part of the area without border controls from introducing national visas. For example, Latvia, Poland or Lithuania could decide to introduce cheaper visas for Belarusian nationals. However, such visas would only be valid in the country which issued them. In 2008, the EU is prepared to pursue a more active good neighbourhood policy in order to help Belarus to strengthen its independence, the ambassador said, expressing a wish that the legislative elections scheduled for 12 October 2008 will be free and respect democratic principles. The EU has endlessly repeated that the price of visas for Belarusians could be reduced if Minsk makes progress in terms of respect for democracy and human rights and if the country becomes formally involved in the neighbourhood policy. Specifically the Belarusian government has been encouraged to comply with 12 conditions which include the holding of free and fair elections, opposition access to the media, freedom of association, the rule of law, the freeing of political prisoners and the abolition of the death penalty. None of these conditions has so far been fulfilled. The installation of a European Commission delegation in Minsk also depends on the goodwill of the Belarusian authorities. For its part, Belarus has called on Europe to stop using visa policy as an instrument to limit interpersonal contacts and to take the necessary measures to ensure free movement, one of the fundamental principles of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Andrey Papow, the spokesperson for the Belarusian Foreign Affairs Ministry recently declared. He added that Belarus has unilaterally decided to lower the price of visas for a number of neighbouring countries which joined the Schengen area in December. (B.C.)