“Belarusian authorities will have no concessions, unless violating of human rights is stopped in the country. It’s not enough for Lukashenka to release some political prisoners, bargaining with us,” MEP Elisabeth Schroedter said in the interview to Deutsche Welle about the resolution on Belarus adopted on 21 February.

Mireille Musso, the French ambassador to Belarus, said that the European Union hopes that the year 2008 will see Belarus making progress on democratic reform. "Both President Lukashenka and the government of the country wish the development of the independent Belarusian state and closer relations with the European Union," the ambassador said at a news conference in Minsk on Monday. "We think that these efforts to develop and modernize the state are very encouraging. The EU is ready to assist Belarus in democratization, the strengthening of independence and the modernization of the state."

Mr. Lukashenka reportedly noted what he called the ambassador’s positive attitude toward Belarus.

There is a chance that the new year could bring a breakthrough even in the spheres, where we have some misunderstanding. Mr. Gebhardt Weiss, the German ambassador to Belarus expressed this opinion during an interview with BELTA.

Martin Uggla - program officer of Swedish NGO Centre for Development Cooperation "Forum Syd" answers some questions of our website coordinators about NGO sector in Belarus.

Henryk Litwin, the Polish ambassador to Belarus, has expressed hope that Minsk and Warsaw will step up bilateral dialogue.

“We are realists, so we don’t expect Belarusian authorities to fulfill all the 12 EU conditions at once”, – the High Representative on External Policy and Security of the European union Xavier Solana said in his interview with BelaPAN. 

At the end of Minsk forum eurobelarus.info inquired, what kind of impression did the event make on the seasoned participants and those who take part in it first time.