Belarus insists on her terms for visa liberalization with EU

Belarusian Deputy Foreign Minister Elena Kupchina said that during negotiations with the EU on visa facilitation and readmission, no agreement had been reached regarding visa-free trips for diplomats and members of official delegations. The Belarusian authorities want political conditions for the resumption of the Belarus-EU dialogue to be completely removed, including the suspension or lift of EU sanctions without the release of political prisoners. The Belarusian authorities say that the EU is ready for more pragmatic relations with Belarus, however, with the preservation of rhetoric about human rights and democratisation. In addition, official Minsk seeks to impose its vision on the development of Belarus-EU relations when Brussels starts consultations on the revision and reformatting of the European Neighbourhood Policy towards Belarus. Meanwhile, the Belarusian government has no intention to change its attitude towards political opponents, and is more likely to toughen conditions for the opposition activities before the 2015 presidential election.