Comments of the Press-Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus in Relation to Consideration by the Council of the European Union of the Issue on Belarus on November 19, 2002

As of today the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus does not have any EU document stating the results of consideration of the matter of restrictive measures on issuance of visas to the Belarusian authorities. No information on this account was received from Denmark that is a EU chairman.

News agencies distribute the information that the EU Council did not adopt the decision to refuse visas to Belarusian authorities. The same sources inform that the Council of the European Union left this issue to the discretion of each of the European Union member states. We do not have any information on what decision was taken by each particular EU member state.

Any decision of a EU member state on restrictive measures in issuance of visas to the Belarusian authorities will be considered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as diametrically differing the general recommendation of the international observers group under the auspices of the OSCE at the presidential elections in the Republic of Belarus. The mentioned recommendations note counter productivity and the need to move away from the isolation policy towards Belarus at the highest levels of European politics.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus believes that the nature of relations between the OSCE and Belarus should not be defined by the European Union. We consider the attempt of the EU countries to substitute the OSCE by themselves as absolutely unacceptable.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus regards the submission of the visa restrictions issue to the consideration at the EU Council as an act of undisguised pressure on the sovereign state aimed at resurrection of a dangerous practice of resolving political issues from the position of force. Such approaches considerably complicate participation of Belarus in pan-European processes.