Political and Legal Foundations
Overview Although EU-Belarus relations progressed soon after the EU recognised Belarus’ independence in 1991, relations began to take a turn for the worse soon after the election of President Lukashenko in 1994. Although both sides negotiated a Partnership and Co-operation Agreement (PCA) in 1995, it never came into force. The Council stated in its September 1997 conclusions that “the EC and their Member States will conclude neither the interim agreement nor the Partnership and Co-operation Agreement” due to the deteriorating situation.
Starting in 1996/97 relations suffered serious setbacks due to Lukashenko’s moves towards authoritarian rule. In 1996, Mr. Lukashenko reformed the 1994 constitution, concentrating powers heavily around the president. Democratic conditions were undermined, in particular, by the replacement of the democratically elected parliament with a national assembly nominated by the president, but also through repression of the opposition and the media, and interference with the judiciary. In addition, according to the 1994 constitution, the next presidential election should have been held in 1999; however, Mr. Lukashenko extended his term to 2001 via a flawed referendum in November 1996.
The EU, the Council of Europe, and the OSCE have consistently voiced their concerns about the political situation and have repeatedly taken joint action. The EU has consistently attempted to overcome this situation, providing assistance to bolster democracy, repeating its hope that Belarus would take its place among European democratic countries and offering co-operation in support of this path. This wish and hope has only grown with EU enlargement as Belarus is now a direct neighbour. During 1999-2000, three opposition politicians and a journalist disappeared and the Belarusian authorities failed to conduct an independent investigation despite the urging of the EU and the CoE. The EU has consistently demanded that Belarus take action to bring the perpetrators to justice. The autumn 2000 parliamentary elections, the September 2001 presidential elections, and the October 2004 all failed to meet international standards for democratic elections. Political parties, independent media outlets, NGOs and academic institutions continue to be harassed, and peaceful demonstrators have been attacked and/or jailed. President Lukashenko used the October 2004 elections to hold a flawed referendum allowing him to run without limitations in future presidential elections. Such developments have made it impossible for Belarus to benefit from the EU’s Neighbourhood Policy which is based on mutual commitment to common values, including democracy, respect for rule of law, good governance and the respect for human rights, including minority rights. The EU stands ready to develop relations with Belarus further if Belarus demonstrates its commitment to these values. The European Commission recently initiated a series of assistance seminars in order to more effectively focus and deliver assistance to assist Belarus in its democratic and economic development. Developments from 2000-2002
In the run-up to the parliamentary elections in autumn 2000, the EU, the Council of Europe, and the OSCE together recommended that Belarus, at a minimum, comply with a set of four clearly defined criteria:
· return substantial powers to the Parliament;
· ensure opposition representation in electoral commissions;
· provide fair access to the state media for the opposition;
· conform electoral legislation to international standards. In the absence of a positive reaction, the OSCE-Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) limited its activities to sending a technical assessment mission to the parliamentary elections. The mission concluded that "The 15 October parliamentary elections process in Belarus failed to meet international standards for democratic elections, including those formulated in the 1990 Copenhagen Document of the OSCE. In particular, these elections fell short of meeting the minimum commitments for free, fair, equal, accountable, and transparent elections. Despite some improvements since previous elections, the process remained flawed." The presidential elections in September 2001 provided another opportunity for Belarus to overcome its international isolation. Unfortunately, the OSCE-deployed Limited Election Observation Mission (ILEOM) came to similar conclusions but also "welcomed and acknowledged the emergence of a pluralist civil society. The isolation of the country is not in the best interest of the Belarus people and is not conducive to strengthening democratic development."
In a Presidential Declaration of 14 September 2001, the EU endorsed these conclusions and pointed out that "the development of its relations with Belarus is essentially dependent on respect for human rights and the progress of democracy in that country. In that context, the European Union welcomes the emergence in Belarus of a degree of pluralism and of a civil society which is aware of the challenges of democracy…. The European Union regrets that the Belarus authorities have not seized the opportunity afforded by these presidential elections to engage their country fully on the path of democracy. The European Union hopes that Belarus will now choose to engage on the course of political liberalisation, respect for human rights and the introduction of the rule of law. The European Union will continue to support the transition to democracy and will hold consultations on the subject with all the political forces of Belarus which are prepared to work in the same direction. It supports the OSCE Advisory and Monitoring Group (AMG), which is in a position to contribute to that transition. It will continue to follow developments in Belarus closely." In early 2002, the EU attempted a step-by-step normalisation of relations with Belarus in response to improvements in the protection of democratic principles and rights otherwise known as the “benchmarks approach.” The benchmarks talks, conducted by the EU Heads of Mission in Minsk, did not yield any tangible results. Belarus’ handling of the OSCE Assistance and Monitoring Group abruptly cut this approach short. Since 2003, there have been several attempts to revive this approach. From early on in the bilateral relationship, the European Parliament followed these developments, providing its own views in a series of resolutions adopted since 1997 (http://www.europarl.europa.eu/intcoop/euro/id/d_by/statements_en.htm). The Parliament initiated a Troika with the assemblies of the Council of Europe and the OSCE which visited Belarus several times. The OSCE Assistance and Monitoring Group (AMG)
The attitude of the Belarusian authorities to the presence of the OSCE AMG in Minsk caused EU-Belarus relations to suffer further. The AMG was established in 1998 with the objective of assisting the authorities to fulfil their OSCE commitments. Due to misgivings about its mandate and activities, Belarus decided to refuse renewal of accreditation of the last remaining foreign staff in October 2002, thereby effectively putting an end to the AMG operations. The EU set out its concerns in its OSCE Declarations in Vienna in May, June, and September 2002, stressing the detrimental impact of the AMG issue on bilateral relations. In particular, the Council stated in October 2002 that "specific measures" might be taken if AMG were to be closed. As a response, 14 out of 15 EU Member States decided on 19 November 2002 to prevent the entry into their territories of President Lukashenko and seven other political leaders of Belarus. The AMG was formally closed and a new OSCE Office was opened in Minsk in January 2003. According to the agreed mandate, the new Office would "assist the Belarusian Government in further promoting institution-building, in further consolidating the Rule of Law and in developing relations with civil society, in accordance with OSCE principles and commitments". The Office would also provide assistance for developing economic and environmental activities and monitor and report on progress. The EU (14) visa ban was lifted in March 2003 after the establishment of this new OSCE Office and a positive assessment by the Head of Mission of the OSCE office in Minsk.(Council conclusions 8220/03) The mandate of the Office has been twice renewed and is now valid until end-2005. EU-Belarus Relations in 2003
The situation regarding human rights, fundamental freedoms and independent media continued to deteriorate in 2003. Local elections on 2 March 2003 were considered flawed, a number of peaceful demonstrators were arrested and several NGOs were closed down allegedly for minor technical reasons, but as suggested by the circumstances, motivated by political aims. The European Parliament, in its Resolution of 11 February 2003, called for moving towards a future partnership with Belarus, expressed strong concern at the increasing ‘self isolation’ of Belarus, and declared its support to the overall approach taken by the Commission and the Council. They stressed the need for the EU to develop a strategy within the Wider Europe/European Neighbourhood Policy framework, to provide greater financial support to NGOs working to strengthen civil society and independent media, and to enhance cooperation in the field of Justice and Home Affairs. The EU’s Council Conclusions of 4 April 2003 reiterated the EU’s concerns and its commitment to “providing support and assistance to Belarusian civil society. In addition, it stated that “The EU has made clear its desire to enhance its relations with its Eastern European neighbours on the basis of shared interests and common values. The development of closer relations between the EU and Belarus will depend on Belarus' effective implementation of further reforms, its willingness to respect its international commitments and to adopt European standards of democracy and human rights. Substantial progress in democratic reform and respect of fundamental freedoms and human rights will be considered by the EU as a new starting point for discussions on the improvement of its relations with Belarus." The European Neighbourhood Policy and Belarus
The Commission launched the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) in its Communication on Wider Europe of March 2003 and complemented it with a Communication in July 2003 which introduced the concept of Neighbourhood Programmes. The ENP lays the ground for closer cooperation with the neighbouring countries of the enlarged Union and offers an opportunity to Belarus for improving relations with the EU. Following endorsement of these concepts by Council conclusions in March and October 2003 respectively, the Commission further elaborated the policy initiative in a Strategy Paper in May 2004. The Council and European Council welcomed and endorsed the Commission’s Strategy Paper in June 2004. Initially, Belarus welcomed the European Neighourhood Policy concept and suggested specific areas for cooperation without, however, responding to the basic democratic requirements. Unfortunately, anti-democratic developments and human rights violations have made it impossible for EU-Belarus relations to develop further within the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy. The EU will further confirm the perspective of closer relations, including in the framework of the ENP, provided that fundamental reforms are carried out. On 13 September 2004, the Council reiterated “its hope that Belarus will take its rightful place among European democratic countries. In this case, the EU would be able to further develop the relations between the EU and Belarus, including in the context of the European Neighbourhood Policy. If, however, the Parliamentary elections and the announced referendum do not take place under free and fair conditions, this cannot remain without its consequences for the relations.” On 23 November 2004, the Council (14724/04) “underlined that Belarus, as a direct neighbour of the European Union, has the opportunity to be an active partner of the EU in the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy. The Council calls upon President Lukashenko and his government to reverse their present policies and to embark on fundamental democratic and economic reforms to bring the country closer to European common values.” “The EU reiterates that it is willing to deepen its relationship with Belarus, including within the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), once the Belarusian authorities clearly demonstrate their willingness to respect democratic values and the rule of law. The EU will take steps to communicate and demonstrate the benefits of the ENP to the Belarusian population at large.” November 2004 Council Conclusions
Instead, the Council was forced to note
“with great concern that the 17 October 2004 parliamentary elections and referendum in Belarus were not conducted in a free and fair manner. In view of this, the Council cannot have confidence that the results, as announced, truly reflect the will of the people of Belarus. The Council strongly condemns the attacks on peaceful demonstrators, individual opposition leaders and journalists that took place after 17 October.” In light of the above and the fact that Belarus had still not taken any action to investigate independently the disappearance of three opposition politicians and a journalist in 1999/2000, and that political parties, independent media outlets, NGOs and academic institutions continued to be harassed, the Council decided:
· The EU remains open for a dialogue with Belarus on gradual development of bilateral relations, as soon as the Belarus authorities demonstrate by concrete actions a sincere willingness to re-engage;
· The EU will introduce a visa-ban against the officials directly responsible for the fraudulent elections and referendum and against those responsible for severe human rights violations in the repression of peaceful demonstrators;
· Bilateral ministerial contacts of the European Union and its Member States with President Lukashenko and his government will be established solely through the Presidency, SG/HR, the Commission and the Troika. Other contacts with President Lukashenko and the members of his government, including multilateral contacts and contacts necessary for transborder relations, will be limited to a minimum;
· Community and Member States’ assistance programmes will support the needs of the population and democratisation, notably by humanitarian, regional, and cross-border cooperation and by projects supporting directly and indirectly democratisation and democratic forces in Belarus. The Commission will continue and further intensify its efforts with regard to assistance to Belarus in order to meet the challenges arising from the self-isolation of Belarus. The Commission is invited to make proposals to this effect as soon as possible;
· The Council invites the Commission to organise a workshop with the participation of Member States, other interested countries, NGOs, and other relevant actors to coordinate assistance to democratisation and civil society in Belarus;
· The relevant bodies of the Council will closely follow Belarus’ conduct with regard to arms trade and proliferation;
The Council will seek the support of interested and like-minded countries for the actions above, including within the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the United Nations. The EU will continue to support and make use of the OSCE’s presence in Belarus, notably through its field office.
The Council will continue to follow developments in Belarus closely and will take further action as appropriate." Imposition of Visa Restrictions: Pourgourides Report and Flawed Elections
The EU imposed sanctions on Belarus for its inaction in the cases of the missing opposition politicians and journalists. The Presidency declared on 27 September 2004 that:
“In view of the apparent obstruction of justice and the absence of an investigation as requested, the European Union has decided today to restrict admission to its territory of those high officials who are considered primarily responsible for failing to initiate such an investigation and prosecution of the alleged crimes, as well as those who are considered by the Pourgourides report key actors in the disappearances and subsequent cover-up.”
“The EU calls once more on the Belarusian authorities, including on the President of the Republic of Belarus, to undertake the actions as requested by the EU.” The EU reacted to the flawed elections and referendum by increasing visa restrictions (Council Common Position on Visa Ban - 6 December 2004):
“The scope of the restrictive measures imposed by Common Position 2004/661/CFSP should therefore be expanded to persons who are directly responsible for the fraudulent elections and referendum in Belarus on 17 October 2004 and those who are responsible for severe human rights violations in the repression of peaceful demonstrators in the aftermath of the elections and referendum in Belarus.” Commission Assistance Initiatives
As a follow up to the GAERC’s November Conclusions, the Commission initiated three events on EU assistance to democratisation and civil society in Belarus: (1) The first event focused on non-governmental organisations and representatives of civil society (1-2 February 2005 in Vilnius.) This meeting, supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany and Lithuania, assessed Belarus’ assistance needs. (2) The second meeting was a special Tacis Management Committee meeting (10 February 2005) to facilitate strengthened co-ordination and delivery of EU assistance to democratisation and civil society in Belarus; (3) The third and final event (17/18 March 2005) of the process is a concluding conference, hosted by the Government of Lithuania, bringing together representatives of the Member States, the Commission, Belarusian and Member States’ non-governmental organisations, international financing institutions, international organisations and other donor countries. EU-Belarus Trade Relations
Without a PCA or an Interim Agreement, bilateral trade is still covered by the MFN provisions of the 1989 Agreement between the EU and the former Soviet Union. Belarus is also a beneficiary of the Generalised System of Preferences. On 29 December 2003, the Commission decided to initiate an investigation into violation of freedom of association in Belarus as the first step towards a possible temporary withdrawal of the GSP from Belarus. The Commission will submit its report on the alleged violations to the GSP committee in 2005. Textiles trade is regulated by an Agreement dating from 1993, which was extended four times (in 1995, 1999, 2003 and 2004, and is currently applicable until the end of 2005. The latest agreement signed in 2004 increases the quotas to take account of EU enlargement and of the annual growth rate. Belarus applied for WTO membership in 1995. The Working Party process is under way. While the EU is Belarus’ main trading partner outside the New Independent States, for the EU trade flows with Belarus are marginal (0.1 % of EC trade). In 1999, EU-Belarus trade suffered a steep decline due to the repercussions of the Russian financial crisis of August 1998 on the Belarus economy, with EU exports dropping by 13%. The EU trade surplus declined accordingly from ? 0.8 bn in 1997 to ? 0.4 bn in 2000. Positive trends in the Belarus economy led to a renewed increase in EU Exports to Belarus 2001 (?1.4 bn). The structure of bilateral trade has remained unchanged, with Belarusian exports consisting mainly of agricultural products (?172 million), and textiles and clothing (?112 million), while the EU exports primarily machinery and transport material (? 673 million). This reflects the low competitiveness and output decline of Belarus’ manufacturing industry over the past decade, leading to the predominance of primary production work intensive goods in her export trade. EU-Belarus trade 2000-2004 (in millions of ?)
(Source: COMEXT, Eurostat)
Year
| Imports
| Yearly %
change
| Share of total EU imports
| Exports
| Yearly %
change
| Share of total EU exports
| Balance
| Imports + Exports
| 2000
| 1.296
|
| 0,13
| 1.684
|
| 0,20
| 388
| 2.981
| 2001
| 1.358
| 4,7
| 0,14
| 2.017
| 19,7
| 0,23
| 659
| 3.375
| 2002
| 1.537
| 13,2
| 0,16
| 2.089
| 3,6
| 0,23
| 553
| 3.626
| 2003
| 1.972
| 28,3
| 0,21
| 2.218
| 6,1
| 0,25
| 246
| 4.190
| 2004
| 2.660
| 34,9
| 0,26
| 2.627
| 18,5
| 0,27
| -32
| 5.287
|
|
|
|
| 2.627
| 6,2
|
| 2.627
| 2.627
| Average annual growth
|
| 19,7
|
|
| 11,8
|
|
| 15,4
|
(Source: EUROSTAT (Comext Statistical Regime 4)) EU Assistance to Belarus
Past EU assistance
EC technical assistance (like Member States’ assistance), in line with 1997 EU Council of Ministers Conclusions, was previously limited "to humanitarian or regional projects or those which directly support the democratisation process”. Between 1991 and 2004, a total of ? 221 million was provided specifically to Belarus. Since 1997, two Tacis National Programmes for Belarus were launched for 2000-2001 and 2002-2003, both worth ?5 million and focusing on the development of civil society. Under the programme endorsed by Belarus in 1999, there was a further ?5 million allocation in 2003 targeting civil society and activities related to the effects of Chernobyl.
At the same time, Belarus received ?16 million in 2001 - 2003 from the CBC (cross-border cooperation), Interstate/regional and the Nuclear Safety Programmes. In addition to Tacis resources, Belarus was provided ?3.2 million in food aid during 1998 - 2001. ECHO provided ?6.7 million to Belarus for humanitarian assistance linked to the effects of the Chernobyl accident. Technical assistance to Belarus was hampered in 2002-2003 by the fact that Belarus stopped granting tax exemption to Tacis projects. In October 2003, Belarus adopted a decree on all international assistance, giving its assurances that EU assistance would be tax exempted. According to the new procedures, international assistance projects must undergo a registration process and be scrutinized by a ministerial level Committee for tax exemption and receive formal approval before they can be started. A new coordination model was set up in the autumn 2003 for activities related to the alleviation of Chernobyl consequences. The CORE programme (Cooperation for Rehabilitation), in which the EU is participating, was established with the objective to improve the living conditions of the inhabitants of selected districts by reaching out to the people themselves, helping them to get involved in the development and execution of specific projects. The model emphasizes a participatory approach and active involvement of those affected by the Chernobyl accident. National and international partners as well as governmental and non-governmental actors operate under the CORE programme. Through the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) the EU has provided assistance to the European Humanities University, in cooperation with the OSCE. Support from the EIDHR to Belarus has also been granted through a project in 2003 with the Lithuanian Union of Journalists.
EC Assistance to Belarus 1991-2005 (in millions of ?)
| 1991
| 1992
| 1993
| 1994
| 1995
| 1996
| 1997
| 1998
| 1999
| 2000
| 2001
| 2002
| 2003
| 04-2005
| Total
| Tacis National Programme
| 8,92
| 14,6
| 9
| 7
| 12
| 0
| 0
| 5
| 0
| 5
| 0
| 0
| 5
| 10
| 76,55
| Tacis Nuclear Safety
| 0,3
| 0
| 1,5
| 0
| 0,6
| 0
| 1,1
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 1
| 2
| 0
| 6,5
| Tacis CBC
|
|
|
|
|
| 1,34
| 2,8
| 4,7
| 2,31
| 8,15
| 0
| 11,2
| N/A
| 6
| 36,5
| CBC SPF
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 0,6
| 0,2
| 0,4
| 0
| 0,9
| 0,2
| 0,44
| 0
| 2,74
| Tacis Regional Programme
| 5,4
| 4,6
| 5,1
| 2,6
| 3,3
| 6,5
| 6,3
| 4,6
| 1,7
| 2
| 3,9
| 2,2
| 7,4
| N/A
| 55,6
| ECHO
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0,56
| 2,73
| 1,73
| 0,95
| 0,34
| 1,99
| 0,69
| 0,2
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 9,19
| INTAS
| 0
| 0,02
| 0,9
| 0,5
| 0,1
| 0,6
| 1,2
| 0
| 0,4
| 0,8
| 0,5
| 0
| N/A
| N/A
| 5,02
| Macro-financial assistance
| 0
| 0
| 0
|
| 0
| 30
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 30
| Total
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 222,1
|
Current and future technical assistance to Belarus
Community and Member States’ assistance programmes will continue to support the needs of the population and democratisation, notably by humanitarian, regional, and cross-border cooperation and by projects supporting democratisation and democratic forces in Belarus.
The November GAERC Conclusions on Belarus called for more active EU engagement to support the needs of the population and democratisation in Belarus. The Commission has been reviewing its assistance programme to Belarus as well as methods of delivery. The three assistance events are also crucial tools to help increase the effectiveness of the EU’s assistance efforts. The Commission approach is to focus on a pragmatic and well-targeted division of labour between various EC instruments and to maximize the flexibility within the existing assistance instruments – European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights, Decentralised Cooperation and TACIS, - for strengthened support to meet the needs of the population, civil society and democratisation in Belarus. · The EU Tacis programme (?10 million in 2005-06) in Belarus will focus on addressing the needs of the population. · Information dissemination to the public on the EU and the European Neighbourhood Policy will be strengthened. · The Tempus programme will continue to finance exchanges of young Belarusian university students abroad, curriculum development on European studies and capacity building in local universities. · Belarus is eligible under the new Neighbourhood Programmes for cross border cooperation (Latvia-Lithuania-Belarus; Ukraine-Poland-Belarus; Baltic Sea Programme) and it will benefit from the European Neighbourhood Policy Instrument (as of 2007). · The European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) plans a more active role in Belarus in the coming years. There is a specific allocation for Belarus for micro-projects (in total ? 450 000 will be made available through several calls for proposals in 2005). Belarus is also eligible under the calls for proposals for macro-projects. In 2005-06, Belarusian applicants will be able to apply for support under two campaigns, notably “Fostering a culture of human rights” and “Promoting democratic process”. · Belarus is eligible under the Decentralised Cooperation budget line (in total ? 1.7 million will be made available through several calls for proposals in 2005). Envisaged projects will include an information component regarding the role of NGOs in assistance to vulnerable groups, social and cultural development and community mobilization. A call for proposals focusing among other areas on development of social dialogue between local governments and civil society was launched in the first quarter of 2005. Prospects for the Future
EU relations with Belarus will continue to depend on progress towards democratisation and reform in Belarus.
USEFUL LINKS:
European Commission Directorate General for External Relations
European Neighbourhood Policy:
European Commission Delegation in Kyiv:
Trade data:
TACIS:
European Parliament Delegation for Relations with Belarus :
OSCE Permanent Council Meetings and Decisions:
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