EC Assistance for Belarus

The framework for EC assistance to Belarus is guided be the successive General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) conclusions on Belarus. The first GAERC conclusions were made in 1997 and updated in November 2004, November 2005 and January 2006. In this regard, these are (i) restrictions on political contacts, and (ii) links with and assistance for other actors in civil society. 

Belarus has been eligible for grant via Tacis programme but there have been, and still is, difficulty in delivering assistance to NGOs in Belarus. Following the adoption by the Belarusian authorities of a number of rules constraining the delivery of international assistance, the delivery of Tacis assistance to NGOs in particular has been severely hampered since 2002.  The EU support to civil society in Belarus has been channelled through Tacis Programme.

In order to increase the flexibility of assistance, the Decentralised Cooperation Programme has been made available to Belarus over 2004-2005. 16 projects under this programme are being currently implemented.

A new instrument for non-state actors in development for the period of 2007-2010 is currently under discussion in the relevant Commission's services. This new instrument will replace the “Co-financing with NGO” and “Decentralised cooperation” budget lines. It is envisaged that Belarus will be among eligible countries for this thematic programme.

On November 21, 2006 the Commission has launched a document setting out what the EU could bring to Belarus, were Belarus to engage in democratisation and respect for human rights and rule of law (co-called non-paper "What the European Union could bring to Belarus") and contains concrete examples of how the people of Belarus could gain from closer relations between the EU and Belarus within the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP).