Vyalichka: EU does not care about election imitation in Belarus

The European Union may admit the legitimacy of the Belarusian authorities after October 11 election, director general of the international consortium EuroBelarus Ulad Vyalichka thinks.

The release of political prisoners in August is enough to restore Belarus-EU relations, he noted. “The minimal democratization of the election process will be enough unless some force majeure occurs. However, the changes are not caused by the situation in Belarus. The European Union’s position has changed due to external factors that make the situation in Belarus look less brutal,” eurobelarus.info quotes Vyalichka.

The European Union will ignore minor negative issues such as ‘the absence of the freedom of mass media and minor repressions directed against  civil and political forces’ when assessing the next election, he believes. In the scheme of things, nobody cares that the whole election institution is falsified in Belarus, the analyst said.

Speaking about the normalization of Belarus-EU relations, Vyalichka noted that the normalization was cosmetic and ritual. It will allow the European Union to contact Belarusian higher officials. However, there will be no real activation of bilateral relations on a new level, he thinks.

Even the allocation of a Russian military base in Belarus will not affect Belarus-Europe relations much, the expert thinks. “I think that Belarusian diplomats are presenting the negotiations about the Russian military base as a coercive measure and all the questions are being redirected to the Russian authorities,” Vyalichka said.

Photo: svaboda.org