EU official: We hope that Belarus authorities will do more

Jose Manuel Pintu, the head of the European Commission's representative office in Belarus and Ukraine, had noted "a certain progress" in the democratization of Belarus. "Recently, we have noted certain progress regarding political prisoners, media freedom and NGOs. We have more expectations. We hope that the (Belarus) authorities will do more. At the same time, cooperation of the European structures with Belarus has become more active in some spheres", he said.

He expressed confidence that the visits by top EU officials as well as the visits by Alexander Lukashenka to Lithuania and Vatican "prove Europeans' desire to improve relations with Belarus". However, a decision on changing the policy towards Belarus would be taken through consensus of 27 EU member states, reports Belapan.