Translated material
Without handshakes
The President of Belarus has found a way to support the Eastern Partnership
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko will not come to the Czech capital tomorrow for the founding summit of the Eastern Partnership, a program proposed by the European Union to six post-Soviet republics. On the eve of the meeting in Prague, he will hold talks in Gomel on the prospects for European integration with his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yushchenko. Belarusians in the Czech Republic at the European summit on May 7 will be represented by First Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Semashko and Foreign Minister Sergei Martynov.The Belarusian leader's decision was announced yesterday, two days before the Prague meeting. “The content of the Eastern Partnership is purely applied, it covers socially and economically significant areas of cooperation, therefore its supervision is within the competence of the government,” explained Maria Vanshina, a representative of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry.
For many years, Western countries have harshly criticized Alexander Lukashenko for the lack of democratic reforms in Belarus. Therefore, the possible participation of the Belarusian president in the Prague summit caused heated debate, with some European politicians saying that they would not even shake hands with Lukashenko. Speaking at the end of April with his annual message to parliament, the president noted that he would not go to Prague if they did not want to see him there. Experts believe that the final decision on the composition of the delegation was made not under the influence of emotions, but based on political considerations.
“Lukashenko’s refusal to participate in the summit indicates that Minsk attaches great importance to the development of relations with the European Union. The president did this not because he was afraid of hearing criticism of himself. In fact, he does not want to overshadow the beginning of the dialogue with Europe with negative aspects,” political scientist and ex-member of parliament Olga Abramova noted to Vremya Novostey. In her opinion, “the reluctance to create unnecessary problems in relations with Russia, which regards the Eastern Partnership with a certain degree of wariness, also played a role.”
Alexander Lukashenko yesterday, in an interview with Reuters, made another gesture towards Moscow, saying: “We are not going to participate in this program, turning away from Russia. If someone plans to make the Eastern Partnership anti-Russian, then nothing will come of it.” The President emphasized that Belarus proposed to involve Russia in some projects within the framework of the Eastern Partnership.
At the same time, the Belarusian leader pointed out the problems existing in cooperation with Russia and expressed dissatisfaction with Moscow’s protectionist measures that limited Belarusian exports to Russia. “Economy is the basis of all relationships. Russia needs to take a more careful position regarding the Belarusian economy,” he noted. “If we have bad relations in the economy, we should not expect that relations in politics, defense, diplomacy will be better.” Economic differences with Moscow have prompted Minsk to open a dialogue with the EU in hopes of expanding trade and attracting Western investment. President Lukashenko began announcing his intention to improve relations with the West soon after Russian energy resources became more expensive for Belarusians in early 2007.
Participation in the Eastern Partnership is of particular importance for Minsk: this program, developed for Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, involves the creation of free trade zones and the provision of financial assistance to participating countries. According to Olga Abramova, the participation of Vladimir Semashko in the delegation “emphasizes that the priority for Belarus is cooperation with the EU in the economic sphere.”
Western analysts also call its economic component one of the most important elements of the Eastern Partnership. “There are new challenges on the agenda that were not so obvious last year, including the need to stabilize countries moving from one crisis to another. The emphasis is not on structural transformation and institution-building, but on crisis management,” the New York Times quoted Nicu Popescu, a fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, as saying.