Belarus snubs EU with visa ‘no’

Date: 13/06/02

By David Cronin

HOPES of improving links between the European Union and Belarus have been dashed by the ex-Soviet state's refusal to renew the visa of a monitor from the international community.

Spain's EU presidency has denounced the decision by Alexander Lukashenko's administration not to allow Andrew Carpenter, an official with the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), to continue working in the country.

Carpenter is the acting deputy-head of the body's advisory and monitoring group (AMG), which has been based in Minsk since 1997.

The Belarussian ambassador to Brussels, Sergei Martynov, conceded that the issue is 'hampering relations' between the EU and his country.

But Martynov argued that the Union's policy is misguided.

'For the EU to focus the totality of its relationship on an OSCE issue is wrong,' he said.

'Making the whole relationship hostage to a particular issue is wrong.'

Martynov also accused the AMG of having 'too broad and vague' a mandate. He claimed that it had sought to rally the opposition against Lukashenko during the 2000 elections.

The chairman of the OSCE's Permanent Council, Portuguese diplomat Joao de Lima Pimentel, has urged Belarus to explain how it wants the group to function.

'Instead of this, the Belarussian authorities have been complaining about past events and talking in abstract terms about changing the mandate,' he said.

'But they have not come up with one concrete proposal.'

Ties between the EU and Belarus have been strained in recent years, sinking to a low in 1998, when the stridently anti-West Lukashenko locked out European and US diplomats from the building complex where they worked.

Since then, however, there have been various attempts to foster a better relationship.

In April, Union foreign ministers endorsed a call by the UK and Sweden to explore how relations with Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova can be bolstered, given they will neighbour an enlarged EU.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has recommended that all three should trade freely with the EU and cooperate on border control, security and defence policies.

Hopes of improving links between the European Union and Belarus have been dashed by the ex-Soviet state's refusal to renew the visa of a monitor from the international community.