Alyaksandr Yarashuk: “Decision of the EU on sanctions is attempt to combine incompatibles”

The head of the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions believes that hopes of the EU for considerable changes towards democracy in Belarus won’t be satisfied.

On November 17 the Council of the European Union extended visa sanctions against highest Belarusian officials and simultaneously frozen these sanctions. As said by the chairman of the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions Alyaksandr Yarashuk, “no other decision was expected”. At the same time, the head of the BCDTU called the decision “an attempt to combine incompatibles”.

“The interest to continuation of a dialogue of the EU with Belarus remains, minimal movements of the body are done by the Belarusian authorities, and Minsk does not ignore demands of the European Union openly. So one could expect such a halfway decision which makes an attempt to combine incompatibles with one hundred per cent certainty,” he said to “Belarusskiy Partizan”.

“Sanctions have been extended for a year, in order to witness absence of any progress in democratization of Belarus, and at the same time frozen, as a hope for serious changes, serious steps to reform the political system of Belarus,” the trade union leader explained.

The BCDTU leader believes however, that hopes of the EU for considerable changes in Belarus towards democratization are unlikely to take place.

“In the nearest months it is unambiguous we are to observe the same situation as the entire year. Insignificant cosmetic changes are to take place, but serious steps of reforming the country are not to be expected. These steps of the regime won’t have serious importance,” Alyaksandr Yarashuk sais.