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Łukasz Wenerski: Lukashenka is just calculating player

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Łukasz Wenerski: Lukashenka is just calculating player
ŁUKASZ WENERSKI
PHOTO: POLSKIERADIO.PL

Human rights upholding should be a priority in the relations of the European Union and Belarus.

Such an opinion has been expressed in an interview to charter97.org website by Łukasz Wenerski, a political analyst and a coordinator of programmes working for the Institute of Public Affairs, Poland.

- There are very many suppositions and forecasts related to the results of the recent presidential election in Poland. To your mind, what policy towards Belarus would be followed by the administration of the new president Andrzej Duda?

- It is yet hard to define what concrete steps in the foreign policy of the new president will be – not only towards concrete states, but in general as well. Everything is to become clear in the next few months in practical work. First it should be defined what policy would be towards the key and major partners in the European Union, such as Germany, for instance. And then it would be clear what policy towards small states, including Belarus, is to be followed. So far one thing is obvious: people from the entourage of the new president declare that they want to be fully engaged in all processes in the Eastern Partnership countries, the take a more active part in the policy towards the Eastern Partnership countries. As an example, one can name a desire to participate in the talks between Ukraine and Russia on the problem of separatists in eastern Ukraine. I don’t want to give an estimate now, what consequences of these actions, negative or positive, will be. As for the policy towards Belarus actually, it could be said that our new president, together with his head of the administration, would like to be more visible in this direction, they want to “stand out” somehow. I do not know how successfully it would be realized, and how effective it is going to be. I mean, how much influence our policy towards Belarus will have on with the political format of the European Union in this issue.

- There is an opinion that the new president is going to continue the general line of the Law and Justice (PiS) party aimed at support of the democratic community and independent media in Belarus. To your mind, is this line is to be continued?

- Certainly, there is a certain level of support, which had been reached by predecessors of the newly elected president already. But it is still hard to say in general, what place will be occupied by Belarus in the foreign policy of Poland. To this point we can speak only about traditions of the Law and Justice policy, about intentions, which are limited just to underlining of the fact that Poland should be more actively engaged in the “eastern policy”, I mean, to establish one’s presence in the most important diplomatic meetings and talks on the region. There is nothing concrete in this direction still, but you have named those positive achievements, which already could be a starting point.

I think that for the newly elected president the issue of the Polish minority is to become one of the vital points in the foreign policy. Obviously, this issue is to be raised to a higher level, and it is to found a mechanism for a certain type of contacts and interaction with Belarus. And as long as the issue of support to the Polish minority is really closely interwoven with the problem of democracy in Belarus, stepping up foreign policy in this direction is to influence development of democracy in your country. I do not know however, how it is to look like in practical terms.

- You have become a participant of the project of Charter-97 “The Eastern Partnership: European Response to Eurasia”. To your mind, does the Eastern Partnership initiative cope with its tasks?

- I would say that for today the Eastern Partnership has both cases of success and failure. What could be called an achievement was signing association agreement with the three countries of the Eastern Partnership. A success was also imposing visa-free regime with Moldova. There is also hope that a similar regime will be created with Ukraine. But it should be noted with regret that the Eastern Partnership cannot use its potential to the full. We see that through the example of Belarus, where the situation has not improved in any respect over this period, and on the contrary, it is getting worse and worse starting from 2010…

Apparently, the Eastern Partnership lacks certain political mechanisms, which would be able to stimulate reforms in the countries which had signed these agreements. Besides, upon the expiry of 6 years, the European Union has not been able to offer its new partners clear conditions of accession and to show at the necessary level solidarity with the states which had expressed European aspirations. And now, as internal problems in the EU exacerbate, I mean problems with Greece and the increase of the terrorist threat – external priorities, including the European integration of the Eastern Partnership countries, could fade into insignificance.

- What policy should be followed by the Western countries – the European Union and specifically Poland, and Euro-Atlantic partners, – towards the dictatorship in Belarus, to your mind?

- One should definitely understand that a dictatorship in Belarus exists. And we should be aware that the regime which had existed for 20 years, and had gained its reputation by reprisals to political opponents, is unlikely to change its principles all of a sudden, and to start acting reasonably. For example, it is unlikely to really make a turn in the direction of the European Union, seeing the aggressive policy of its closest eastern partner, Russia. On the part of Alyaksandr Lukashenka it is simply a calculating game, an attempt to “pull different strings”. As soon as difficulties with one partner occur, he imitates rapprochement with the other one, apparently in order to derive some benefit from that, including political one.

- And what about the problem of political prisoners in Belarus, and absence of freedom of expression and fair election?

- Unfortunately, the EU often uses “double standards” policy in this issue. For example, if it looks possible to reach a compromise in an economic or energy cooperation. There could be probably some justification for compromise, but not for the European Union. The European Union had been created on the principles of priority of law, democracy and human rights upholding. Building a political space founded on these ideas, we should demand the same from all our partners.

We do not have a right to use “double standards” in this issue. Respect for human rights should remain a priority of the EU, and it is unacceptable that it would be possible to hide behind any economic considerations in this issue. It is where the attractiveness of the European Union lies for people from other communities – not so much in its economic wealth, but in strict adherence to basic human rights and freedoms. And most regrettably, in the relations with Belarus the European Union sometimes backs away from its overriding moral priority.

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