Belarus can enter the European energy market

Belarus is negotiating for cooperation with Europe within the limits of the Energy Charter. According to experts, Belarus entering the European market seems quite realistic on the background of the Russian-Belarusian relationship crisis.

Europe calls Belarus for ratifying the agreement supplemented to the Energy Charter. That was reported by the press-service of the Belarusian government in the explanatory notes to the results of the meeting of Secretary General of the Secretariat of the Energy Charter Andre Mernier with the first deputy prime minister of Belarus Uladzimir Syamashka. According to Andre Mernier "ratification would be beneficial for Belarus and can be regarded as a corresponding appeal to investors ". It is also important to other countries - members of the Energy Charter, as Belarus is a transit country.

Uladzimir Syamashka, for his part, reported that Minsk "is ready to discuss and find mutually acceptable decisions which will promote integration of Belarus into the world economy and will reinforce guarantees of the energy security of the country ". However, he remarked, that in decision making Belarus is to consider a viewpoint of Russia on this issue. Russia has not ratified the agreement supplemented to the Energy Charter either as it considers the agreement not beneficial for itself, the «Nezavisimaya Gazeta " newspaper remarks.

.

Belarusian experts are not inclined to consider renewal of discussion of on ratification of the agreement supplemented to the Energy Charter as accidental. Earlier they stressed that Belarus did not sign that document along with the countries rich in own power resources . Access to the Russian cheap power resources as until 2007 made the issue of power safety irrelevant. Today the situation has essentially changed. Now the position of Belarus is closer to that of the Europeans states that depend on energy resources deliveries, primarily from Russia.

It is to be mentioned, that the Energy Charter was signed in 1991 as the declaration on intentions for cooperation between the east and the west. Concrete conditions of such cooperation are stipulated in the supplementary agreement to the Energy Charter signed in 1994. Its purpose is to create the common energy market in the EU and to develop clear and transparent relations with other countries in the field of energy. The document founders foresaw that it should have prevented the state monopoly in the energy sphere. This assumption exposes the unwillingness of the countries rich in power resources to join the Charter as their intention is to keep the predominating position in this sphere.

After loosing Russian energy subsidies Belarus applied to the EU for expanding and deepening cooperation in the energy field early this year. . But this fact has not been confirmed by the official communiqués.

On the one hand, the EU is interested in cooperation with the country on which the European energy security depends (the latest Russian-Belarus crisis once again proved that to the EU). On the other hand there are earlier formulated conditions for possible cooperation: returning of Belarus to democratic values and first of all releasing the prisoners whom Europe regards as political.