Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz: “I wish a day to come when Belarus would be able to enter EU”

Włodzimierz Cimoszewic, former Polish Prime Minister, a candidate for the position of the Council of Europe’s Secretary General, in his interview to Echo Moskvy radio station touched upon the situation in Belarus.

Answering the question: “Besides the US anti-missile shield, Russia’s great concern is caused by the NATO enlargement to the East. The concerns are also connected with the expanded influence on Georgia, Ukraine and Belarus. What is your position: what Europe should do and shouldn’t do, where it should seek advice from Russia, and where shouldn’t?”, Włodzimierz Cimoszewic stated:

“Frankly speaking, as a neighbour of Belarus – I live 45 kilometres from the border with Belarus – and I wish for a day to come when Belarus would join the EU, and I wish that for all. Our Polish experience after joining the EU is very positive: 84% of Poles say that it was good we joined the EU, it accelerates development of our economy, and there are very many positive results. I think that it does not harm anyone. Even from Russia’s point of view, if I were in Moscow, I would think that for neighbours it is better to develop faster, it is better for everybody for different reasons. As for the NATO, the situation is more difficult, it is hard to speculate about all that. It seems to me that there is no such a problem practically, as far as Eastern Europe is concerned. But I thought the same about Ukraine,” the former Prime Minister said.