EU lowers its goals for Belarus

On 12 October 2015, the European Union announced the suspension of its sanctions against Belarus for four months. The decision must be formally approved, but will probably come into force in November. The suspension applies to sanctions introduced against persons responsible for the repression and falsification of the presidential elections in 2010, as well as economic entities deemed to be supporting the undemocratic regime. Sanctions will be maintained against persons suspected of involvement in the disappearance of political opponents in 1999-2000, as will the embargo on arms trading. The EU also announced further steps to ease its policy towards Minsk, primarily opening Belarus’s access to EU funding programmes (the European Investment Bank and the EBRD) and financial markets in the EU, and in addition, to other cooperation programmes mainly available within the framework of the Eastern Partnership.