EU-Belarus relations may further strain, says Polish MEP

20.03

Relations between the European Union and Belarus may further strain after the execution of two young men who were found guilty in the Minsk subway bombing case in November last year, Jacek Protasiewicz, head of the European Parliament`s Delegation for Relations with Belarus, said in an interview with Poland’s RMF FM on March 19.

The staffing levels at the Minsk-based embassies of EU member countries may be reduced to the personnel of the consular sections, warned the Polish MEP.

Describing Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s decision to deny clemency to Dzmitry Kanavalaw and Uladzislaw Kavalyow as tragic, shocking and incomprehensible, Mr. Protasiewicz suggested that the Belarusian leader was not interested in mending ties with the West.

It is difficult to imagine some thaw in Belarusian-Polish relations following the execution of the two men, he said.

On March 23, the EU foreign ministers are expected to adopt new sanctions against the Lukashenka regime; if they do so, the EU will not send its ambassadors back to Minsk and may even reduce the staffing levels at its embassies in the Belarusian capital city, he added.

All EU ambassadors left Belarus more than two weeks ago after the Belarusian foreign ministry "recommended” on February 28 that the head of the EU delegation to Belarus and the ambassador of Poland to Belarus return to their capitals for consultations, while simultaneously recalling the country`s permanent representative in Brussels and ambassador in Warsaw.

The ministry announced its decision one day after the EU imposed travel bans and asset freezes on new Belarusian officials over alleged human rights violations.

The EU envoys left the country "in expression of solidarity and unity.”

External source of this news: http://naviny.by/rubrics/english/2012/03/20/ic_articles_259_177232/

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EU-Belarus relations may further strain, says Polish MEP

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