Belarusan officials may have an informal “window” to the EU

EuroBelarus

07.02.2012

Belarusan officials may have a "window" for their informal communication with both representatives of civil society of Belarus and with the heads of the European Union.

As the representative of the Environmental Fellowship "Green Alliance", a member of the Steering Committee of the Civil Society Forum of the Eastern Partnership, Yaroslav Bekish has informed the "EuroBelarus" Information Service, the European Commission is preparing a new format of mutual relations with officials and representatives of public structures of the states-participants of the EU initiative of the Eastern Partnership. It has to do with the organization of informal meetings of profile ministers of the countries-participants of the Eastern Partnership with experts of the European Union and representatives of the Civil Society Forum. Such meetings can spur the beginning and development of a dialogue at the interstate level and promote the formation of relations between representatives of the public and the power inside the countries.

"Such meetings for civil societies are also a possibility to build political communication with their governments", said Yaroslav Bekish.

At the same time, in his opinion, the possibility of informal communication with EU representatives is a chance for Belarusan state officials to realize the missed opportunities to build informal contacts with European colleagues.

As Yaroslav Bekish has explained, the prospects of carrying out such meetings were discussed during a meeting of the Steering Committee of the Civil Society Forum of the Eastern Partnership with Štefan Füle, the European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy. As a result, right now, the European Commission is working on the format of such meetings. It is expected that they will be launched not earlier than in six month.