Will EU reduce visa costs for Belarusians?
A visa to Lithuania and Poland costs just 5 Euro. You spend two hours on a bus and find yourself in Europe. Apparently, this is why we can observe huge lines in front of European embassies. So far, this is the only hamper. But things will change soon.
Effective from November 2007, apart from $9 for a bus ticket to the neighboring Lithuania or Poland, you will have to pay additional 60 Euro for a visa.
At the same time, EU has left unchanged its visa cost of 35 Euro for the Balkan countries, Russia and Ukraine. Why does Belarus stand out in this regard?
“Russia, Ukraine and Moldova have a plan of cooperation with the European Union. In accordance with EU’s policies, simplified visa regime can be reviewed only after Belarus signs an agreement with the European Union on repatriation of illegal migrants.
This was communicated to Belarus on May 8. But Belarus has not met these conditions yet,” said Janis Aizsalieks, the head of TACIS office in Minsk.
In 1995, Belarus and the European Union signed an agreement on partnership and cooperation. It was later suspended for political reasons. Belarus has fallen short of meeting 12 conditions proposed by Brussels in order to boost cooperation in the framework of good neighborhood policy.
In the view of Janis Aizsalnieks, the visa issue is connected with those 12 proposals to Belarus.
“The ratification of this agreement was suspended because Belarus has not met the issues, e.g. human rights, mentioned in the twelve proposals.
We are very interested to see those proposals being implemented,” he said.
At the same time, the Belarus authorities do not see anything political in the visa process.
Lawmaker Siargej Gaidukevich who also acts as Belarus foreign minister’s special envoy to EU bodies says that lower visa costs for Belarusians is just a matter of time.
“This is not serious. Just imagine the European Union to announce that all the citizens of the Republic of Belarus will suffer because we have not fulfilled 12 points that they proposed. I don’t understand at all then what the EU represents: developed democracies or something else…
The European Commission is very bureaucratic machine. When you call them, they say that your paper is being processed. When you call one week after, they ask whether we could send it again because they could not find it…This system is very inertial and very slow.” Gaidukevich said.
Nobody in the EU said a categorical “No”. They say it is still early and that we need to talk.
Gaidukevich maintains that Belarus’s foreign ministry is already in consultations with the EU.
It is interesting that the views of Gaidukevich and Milinkevich about the political nature of this situation do not differ much.
“This is a standard cost of visas approved by the EU. It is not linked with those 12 proposals. If a country wants discounts, it has to enter into bilateral relations, something that Belarus has not done,” opposition leader and the former presidential contender Alexander Milinkevich said.
Milinkevich insists that the government should meet EU officials and negotiate.
“The views of pro-democracy leaders on the visa issue are not enough. The authorities should make certain steps as well. Only the government can request EU to offer discounts for visas. Russia and Ukraine have achieved that, because the government was involved,” Milinkevich said.
It seems that everyone wishes to resolve the issue positively for the both sides.
Milinkevich: “I support lower costs for Belarusians, because Belarusians will afford this cost”.
Gaidukevich: “Sooner or later, there will be a certain balance, because it is advantageous”.
Aizsalnieks: “We remain optimistic in this regard. I think it will happen. The question is when”.
It is not clear when. We can only hope for bilateral negotiations between countries
Photo: photo.bymedia.net
