The European Union “stands ready to develop a close relationship with Belarus and its people as soon as the Belarusian government demonstrates respect for democratic values and for the basic rights of the Belarusian citizens,” the Kyiv-based Delegation of the European Commission to Belarus and Ukraine says in a statement. 

Positive signals from Minsk should become more distinct, told a deputy Foreign Minister of Germany Gernot Erler at the opening ceremony of the 10th Minsk Forum on November 22.

“The EU stands ready to develop a close relationship with Belarus and its people, as soon as the Belarusian government demonstrates respect for democratic values and for the basic rights of the Belarusian citizens,” it is aid in a statement of the European Commission’s Delegation to Ukraine and Belarus.

The organizers of an opposition campaign for Belarus` accession to the Council of Europe on Thursday met with Slovakia`s charge d’affaires, Lubomir Regak, to hand him 100 more signatures in support of their drive.

As many as 178,000 people diagnosed as alcoholics are monitored by Belarus’ drug and alcohol abuse rehabilitation centers, Uladzimir Maksimchuk, the health ministry’s chief addiction officer, told BelaPAN in Minsk on November 16.

The situation of a transit state situated between Russia and European Union gives Belarus potential possibility to participate in economic relations of West and East. The issue of energy safety of Europe is especially important. For the sake of it EU can «close eyes on the situation with human rights in Belarus ». This is the opinion a Russian political scientist Andrei Suzdaltsev has expressed to BelaPAN Information Agency after a conference on energy safety which took place not long ago in Vilnius ( Lithuania ).

EU is ready to give that much money to create an international volunteer centre of young firefighters and rescuers in Brest in 2008-2009.

BRUSSELS: Frontier posts are to be dismantled across Eastern Europe and passport checks scrapped as the European Union prepares to extend its free travel zone to the borders of Ukraine and Belarus.

The new National EU programme for Belarus was approved in the end of September by 27 EU member states. In a few months it is going to be accepted by the European Parliament.  The EU help to Belarus was recently provided through TACIS technical support programme. This year a new influence mechanism was introduced – the European Instrument of Neighbourhood and Partnership, which offers Belarus not just several projects, realized simultaneously, but a complete National programme with a budget of 5 million euro. According to the EC representatives on Geographical Coordination and Europe Overseeing “the national programme budget for Belarus is just 5 million euro, because we haven’t signed an operation plan with them. In comparison: our Ukraine support funds are 142 million euro per year”.

Vladimir Rouda, a renowned Belarusian political scientist, positively estimates the very fact of the Official Report-Maker of PACE A.Rigone’s visit to Belarus. At the same time he thinks that Lukashenka benefits from such visits more, than Europe, so the West should take a stricter stance towards the Belarusian authorities.