Belarus Ambassador to Germany against simplification of visa regime

Ambassador Andrei Giro did not even want to discuss reduction of Schengen visa costs for Belarusians.

“It is not really a well-chosen moment for discussing facilitation of visa regime with the European Union, when more than two hundred of Belarusian officials cannot even go to the West,” he stated during a discussion in Bundestag, dedicated to the policy of Germany and the EU towards Belarus, BelaPAN informs.

The Belarusian diplomat lambasted double standards in the European politics, limited participation of Belarus in the Eastern Partnership, as well as the fact that the dialogue on modernization of relations between Belarus and the EU had been launched without participation of Belarusian regime representatives. The Ambassador stressed that Minsk “is interested in the dialogue with the West, and had never given up on it.”

In his turn the head of the department of Russia, Eastern Partnership, Central Asia, regional cooperation and the OSCE Directorate-General for External Relations Gunnar Wiegand reminded that facilitation of the visa regime and reduction of visa costs could be possible “for millions of Belarusians”. However, while the Belarusian authorities do not give an answer to the proposal made a year before (in June 2011), some EU countries have made this move unilaterally within the law, noted the European official.

The representative of Brussels agreed that realization of modernization processes is impossible without participation of Belarusian government. Within the framework of the opened dialogue the EU, with the help of the civil society of Belarus, is correcting the interim plan of bilateral cooperation in this sphere, which was ready two years ago.

Wiegand pointed at clear wording by of the EU. Thus, for Brussels to start reconsideration of the sanctions imposing, it is necessary “to release and rehabilitate the remaining ten political prisoners”. “These steps would allow us to normalize the relations. In order to improve them, progress in the sphere of basic rights and freedoms is needed,” the diplomat said.

Patricia Flor, Special Envoy of the Federal Foreign Office of Germany for Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia, Ministry expressed concern over the state of health of imprisoned Mikalai Statkevich and Syarhei Kavalenka. She noted “absence of escalation on the part of Minsk.” “I would like to stress that the terms on which normalization of relations is possible, are known and are not subject to discussion,” Flor stated.

Reiner Lidner, the head of the German-Belarusian society and the executive director of the Eastern Committee of German economy, said there are signals "of Minsk’s readiness to meet Europe halfway." He said that the traditional Minsk Forum in fall 2012 is not planned, but did not rule out the revision of the decision if the situation in Belarus begins to change.

Joerg Forbrig, Senior Program Officer for Central and Eastern Europe, and Director of the German Marshall Fund for Belarus Democracy, compared the existing situation with summer – 2008, when Belarusian authorities also abstained from escalation of relations and promised to release all political prisoners. He noted cohesion of actions of the EU countries after the presidential election of 2010 in forming leverage to influence the situation inside the country. At the same time, Forbrig warned against repeating the mistakes made four years ago.

The discussion was organized by the German-Belarusian society. Among its participants there also were deputies of Bundestag Uta Zapf and Karl-Georg Wellmann.

It should be noted that the Belarusian Ambassador had not been invited for the discussion officially. Meanwhile, the discussion was positively evaluated by its participants for openness and participation of the head of the Belarusian Embassy in it.