A EUROPEAN BELARUS
By Franco Frattini and Vygaudas UÅ¡ackas

European Voice
13.10.2009 / 16:54 CET

The foreign ministers of Italy and Lithuania argue that the anomaly
of Belarus’s self-isolation may slowly be ending.

Can Belarus, 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, find its
place in a Europe that has overcome many difficulties to become both
united and democratic? How does Europe see its relations with this
country in the future? These are but a few questions that diplomats
and politicians are now asking.

For most of that time – the past 15 years – Belarus has chosen to
isolate itself from the European continent. This self-isolation is
an anomaly: Italy and Lithuania are convinced that Belarus is an
indivisible part of Europe, for reasons of geography, history and
religion. Moreover, separation benefits neither Belarus nor Europe.

Over the past year, though, there have been some shift in the
relationship between the EU and Belarus. Last August, after Belarus
took a few steps that the international community had been waiting
for, releasing the former presidential candidate Alyaksandr Kazulin
and other political prisoners and permitting the newspapers Narodnaya
Volya and Nasha Niva to be published and distributed. The EU took
a reciprocal step and decided to suspend the visa ban imposed when
the presidential election in 2006 failed to comply with democratic
standards.

The EU took one more step and in May this year invited Belarus,
together with Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, to
join its Eastern Partnership programme, a regional forum intended to
facilitate economic and political engagement with the six countries, as
well as to strengthen Belarus’s human and social links with the rest of
Europe. The European Parliament, in its turn, adopted a resolution on
Belarus setting out its view of the direction of further collaboration.

If this policy of "gradual engagement" is to bring good results,
Belarus needs to demonstrate its commitment to the values of democracy,
human righ ‘s development and peaceful co-existence.

The simple fact is that Europe and Belarus need each other, for very
practical reasons. Belarus needs integration with Europe to ensure
its economic development and social stability. Europe needs Belarus
because its geopolitical location makes it an important energy partner
– 20% of the gas that Russia sends to Europe crosses Belarus – and
an important partner in the effort to curb illegal trade and migration.

For these reasons, stronger ties between Belarus and Europe are also
in the interests of Russia. An independent and stable Belarus cannot
and must not be seen as being directed against Russia.

Italy and Lithuania have always spoken out in favour of a policy of
gradual opening up to Belarus. We are now actively fostering that
process, through bilateral instruments. On 16 September, Belarus’s
president, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, visited Vilnius to take part in the
International Economic Forum and to meet his Lithuanian counterpart,
Dalia GrybauskaitÄ-. On 30 September, one of the authors of this
article – Franco Frattini – visited Minsk, reciprocating a visit to
Italy last spring by Belarusian Foreign Minister Serhiy Martynov.

Italy and Lithuania also support the aid that the EU might provide to
help Belarus overcome the dramatic social problems that are emerging
there, caused in part by the world economic crisis.

We expect Belarus to start to feel the advantages of ties with
Europe. What we insist is that the persecution of people for their
civil and political convictions or public activities, limitations on
the independence of the media and non-governmental organisations must
truly become a thing of the past. Future elections have to comply
with recognised international standards set by the Organisation for
Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). And Belarus must respect
the territorial integrity of every country, Georgia included.

Europe and Belarus are building a partnership. It will become a full
partnership when mutual trust is complete.

Vygaudas foreign minister of Italy.

© 2009 European Voice. All rights reserved.