Minsk Forum XI - Texts of Presentations
14 November 2008
Jean-Eric HolzapfelChargé d'affaires a.i.
Delegation of the European Commission to Belarus
Regional Cooperation : Belarus Between EU and Russia
Ladies and Gentleman,
Dear Friends of Belarus,
I. Introduction
It is an honour and a pleasure to participate in this new edition of the Minsk Forum, this major event which permits among other dimensions to measure each year what could be realized and what are the perspectives for the relations between Belarus and the EU.
This time of the year is particularly propitious. The Georgian crisis and the freeing of the remaining political prisoners last August, the Parliamentary elections in September and more recently the world financial crisis, create a new context for the exchanges of views in this forum.
Within this new situation, relations between Belarus and the EU have evolved. I will first outline these changes and the present state of play.
II. The new situation
2.1. Recent evolution
The recent evolution of EU-Belarus relations can be summarized as follows:
The EU welcomed the freeing of the remaining political prisoners in August 2008. At the end of August an EC mission came to Minsk to convey to the Belarusian authorities the Commission's appreciation for their release, to discuss the response envisaged from the Commission's side and to encourage strongly the Belarusian authorities to take further convincing steps to ensure the respect for democracy, the rule of law and human rights, in particular in the context of the upcoming parliamentary elections.
However the parliamentary elections held on 28 September, despite some improvements, failed to meet the democratic criteria of the OSCE.
On 13 October a EU troika meeting took place with the Belarusian MFA. On the same day the External relations Council meeting of the EU expressed in its conclusions the hopes of the EU for gradual re-engagement with Belarus; it decided to restore contact with the Belarusian authorities. Most of the travel restrictions imposed on certain leading figures were suspended for 6 months. At the end of the period, the Council will reconsider whether the Belarusian authorities have made progress in the sphere of democracy and human rights. The Council also supported the intensification of technical cooperation initiated by the Commission in areas of mutual interest.
On this basis a new EC mission came to Minsk on November 4/5 to express the views of the EU within this window for opportunity. It expresses 5 key messages for progresses expected from the EU in this 6 months period:
- Belarus should remain a country without political prisoners;
- Steps should be taken to guarantee freedom of expression of the media;
- Cooperation with OSCE on electoral legislation should continue;
- Improved conditions for NGOs should be ensured;
- Steps should be made to guarantee freedom of assembly and political association.
These five messages are part of the EU 12 points of the November 2006 Commission document.
2.2. State of play
After these recent measures the present restrictions on EU-Belarus relations are as follows:
Limited participation in the European Neighbourhood Policy
No partnership and cooperation agreement
Visa ban and assets freeze for 5 remaining persons.
The infringements of labour rights with reference to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) principles also lead to the temporary suspensions of the EU-GSP benefits.
2.3. EU activities in Belarus
Let me say now a few words on what the EU does in Belarus. Despite the context of limited cooperation which I mentioned earlier, the EU is very present in Belarus in many domains. Total portfolio of present activities amounts to 33 million € plus another 52 million in preparation. These amounts include activities which are only dedicated to Belarus. Here one should also take into account regional and crossborder cooperation which cover a range of countries including Belarus.
As it is not the aim of my present, I will only mention the concerned domains:
Education
Activities in the sphere of Media.
Democracy and human rights
Decentralised cooperation and support to Non-State Actors and Local Authorities
Energy
Environment
Post-Chernobyl activities
Nuclear safety
Crossborder activities. They concern the fight against human being trafficking and drug trafficking, the management of migration and of asylum, border management
Cross-border cooperation with 3 ENPI CBC programmes (ex-neighbourhood programmes)
Research
Transport,
Support to the Tacis national coordinator
TAIEX
Destruction of landmines.
III. Perspectives
3.1. Introduction
Let us examine now the wider perspectives. Starting from the present situation, these perspectives range from a return to the status quo ante (that is before the EU Council of 13 October), some enhancement of cooperation up to a process of full ENP partnership for Belarus). Let us see briefly the two latter cases.
3.2. Enhancing cooperation
As indicated above, since the freeing of the remaining political prisoners in August the Commission is preparing a response in the domain of cooperation. The EU Council of 13 October supported the intensification of technical cooperation initiated by the Commission in areas of mutual interest.
This means for instance that we propose to deepen our cooperation in the 4 domains in which we have already expert talks (energy, transport, customs, environment). 3 new domains could be added: agriculture and food safety, financial services, product regulation and standards.
The TAIEX (technical assistance and information exchange instrument) instrument could also be developed.
Increase envelopes for cooperation can be envisaged (presently 5 million € each year for the annual action plan, to be compared with 40 million for Moldova and 120 million for Ukraine).
3.3. Full ENP: the case of Ukraine
The perspective of a full ENP partnership – in case of positive developments – is well illustrated by the case of Ukraine, as this country fully benefits from the ENP with all its facilities including the investment and governance facilities. Cooperation includes a sector approach and a support to institutional, legal and administrative reform. Cooperation with Belarus is much more project orientated with a lesser element of support to reforms. Annual cooperation for the sole ENPI annual action programme 2007 amounted to 120 million € compared to 5 million € for Belarus.
Cooperation between Ukraine and the EU is monitored through the EU-Ukraine Action plan which was adopted in February 2005 for a period of 3 years and was extended for one year. This is a useful tool in the establishment of the reform agenda. It aims towards a deep economic and trade integration, beyond free trade in goods and services.
As regards trade, negotiations on a new enhanced agreement (NEA) have begun. Ukraine's WTO access and start of negotiations on a deep and comprehensive Free Trade area are the core of this new enhanced agreement.
There are also ad hoc or regular ministerial and expert level meetings, bilaterally or with other ENP partners.
As regards visa issue, the entry into force of agreements on visa facilitation and readmission permitted to reduce visa fees FOR Ukrainian citizens entering the EU.
IV. Reflexions on the regional approach perspective
4.1. Introduction
Finally, as this panel deals with the regional dimension, I would like now to add some other elements in this regional approach.
4.2. Regional and crossborder activities
I will first remind that many of our cooperation activities with Belarus have regional or crossborder dimensions:
Regional projects deal with environment, energy (including INOGATE projects), transport
Border management projects concerning several aspects : border crossing, migration issues, asylum, anti-trafficking, etc.
CBC activities (3 CBC programmes).
I would like to address now the regional dimension first through a reminder on the evolution of the ENP and also through a brief presentation of the relations between Ukraine and the EU which, as said, offer a perspective for Belarus.
4.3. Reinforcing the ENP
We are now reinforcing the ENP. ENP was set up to avoid new dividing lines in Europe while responding to security challenges arising from the newly created borders. It stresses the importance of shared European values as the basis for future relations with all neighbouring states (security strategy 2003).
Discussions are ongoing on the ways of further strengthening the ENP. In December 2007 the EC published a Communication “A Strong European Neighbourhood Policy” which set the following objectives for 2008 and beyond:
Greater political commitment to foster economic integration and improve market access. The Communication calls on MS to support ongoing agricultural negotiations, in particular limiting the number of products excluded from full liberalisation.
The facilitation of legitimate short-term travel, as well as more ambitious longer term developments in managed migration. The Commission urges the Council and the European Parliament to adopt its 2006 " package" on visas, and to make full use of the opportunities under existing rules to facilitate travel.
Further engagement with ENP partners in tackling frozen conflicts, using the full range of instruments at the EU's disposal, to stabilise conflict and post-conflict areas.
Intensified EU support for partner countries’ sectoral reforms in areas such as: energy, climate change, fisheries, transport, maritime policy, research, information society, education, employment and social policy.
The EU has already enhanced its financial assistance to help implement the action plans:
The new financial instrument, ENPI, is replacing TACIS – more flexible and policy driven.
ENPI’s innovative feature is the cross-border co-operation component
Increase of assistance
TAIEX and Twinning instruments used to assist the AP implementation.
Two new innovative financial mechanisms will be introduced along with the country programmes:
the Neighbourhood Investment Fund that, along with the EU contribution, will leverage additional lending from financial institutions including the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
the Governance Facility aimed at providing additional support - on top of normal country allocations - to acknowledge and support the work of ENP partner countries that have made most progress in implementing their Action Plans.
4.4. The Eastern partnership
A major element of reinforcement of the ENP is the development of the Eastern partnership, based on the recent Polish and Swedish proposal for Eastern partnership.
The offer concerns 6 countries (Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Belarus). The authors of the proposal recall that Eastern neighbours are not neighbours of Europe but form part of Europe and, under the Treaty of the Union, have the right to apply for membership of the EU. In this context the Eastern Partnership should have a dual aim:
- to enhance bilateral cooperation with the 6 countries involved (visa, free trade, aid for domestic reform and aligning laws with the acquis communautaire, people-to-people contacts), enhanced partnership agreements)
- to create a permanent structure for multilateral cooperation
The example of the Visegrad group is highlighted, as it brought together 4 countries (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary) which were all preparing to join the EU.
Next step will be the adoption of a Commission communication (expected 26 November) which will propose 2 tracks: the bilateral and the multilateral track. The multilateral track is inspired by the stability pact in the Balkans with different platforms on energy, gouvernance, security, etc.
I thank you for your attention.
Johann Frisell,
Director of Eastern Europe Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sweden, Stockholm
Eastern Partnership
There is a need to strengthen the European offer in the Eastern direction and to develop an Eastern Partnership. Such a partnership should be based on, but go beyond the current ENP, confirming, on the one hand, the differentiation principle towards the neighbours, in line with the ENP, and, on the other hand, strengthening horizontal links between these neighbours and the EU. In this context, we propose:
- Deepening bilateral co-operation. An offer of more profound integration with the EU should be extended to all eastern partners. First and foremost Ukraine would benefit from this; others would follow according to ambition and performance.
- Creating a permanent formula for multilateral co-operation complementary to the existing regional co-operation schemes.
A deepened bilateral co-operation will include:
- Deepening cooperation on the broader migration agenda and moving towards a visa-free regime as a long-term goal, and, in a short-term perspective, making a further step in the visa facilitation process. A road map towards visa freedom, with clearly laid down steps and conditions, should be established.
- Creating a deep Free Trade Area, built upon the basis of series of deep and comprehensive free trade agreements to be negotiated individually between the EU and the partner countries.
- Enhancing EU support to sector reforms in accordance with European standards.
- Intensifying people-to-people contacts through enhanced student and scholar exchange programmes, civil society platforms and seminars, cooperation and exchanges of local and regional partners etc.
- Adjusting the methodology of the internal reforms and promoting the EU integration process. A new generation of Action Plans, agreed with each of the partner countries, with clear benchmarks and linkage to the alignment towards EU legislation, standards and norms. Reforms should increasingly be assessed against EU standards, with due monitoring by the Commission.
- Successor agreements going beyond present PCA´s could be offered to all eastern neighbours in due time and depending on reform progress. The New Enhanced Agreement with Ukraine could serve as a reference, with necessary adaptations to each of the partner countries.
- Ensuring a distribution of EU assistance funds that reflects progress in implementing agreed reform objectives as well as absorption capacity.
- The principle of differentiation among the partner countries is a key element.
Multilateral co-operation
Geographical scope: The co-operation will include 27 EU countries and 6 Eastern partners, embraced by the ENP: Ukraine, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and Belarus (the co-operation with Belarus would initially take place on a technical and expert level – an enhancement would take place if and when conditions allow). Projects within the ENPI framework could also be extended to Russia.
Project-orientation: The co-operation will be based on the implementation of concrete projects.
Flexible participation in projects: Involvement in activities conducted in the framework of the multilateral co-operation will be voluntary and dependent on the interest of particular countries in concrete projects.
Complementarity with regional projects: Multilateral co-operation with Eastern neighbours will be complementary with the existing regional initiatives: the Black Sea Synergy and the Northern Dimension.
Added value
- Encouraging multilateral co-operation between the Eastern neighbours themselves, which will foster regional links.
Creating a multilateral format to enable addressing issues which not only concern the regions of the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea, but also those which go beyond them, e.g. concerning land borders and initiatives strictly related to EU co-operation with the Eastern neighbours in the ENP framework.
Enhancing an offer for Belarus, which has not been embraced by any of the EU multilateral initiatives so far. The multilateral co-operation would open an opportunity for inclusion of various social groups, e.g. the youth, SMEs and junior officials, in the co-operation with the European Union.
Financing
Financial resources for the implementation of projects, launched within the multilateral co-operation, will come from the already available ENPI resources (including East regional and CBC lines). Therefore, strengthening the Eastern dimension will be neutral for the EU budget. The EU funds could be coupled with the EIB and EBRD credits, as well as resources handed over by willing EU member states, as well as EEA and other partner countries (promoting the Trust Fund mechanism).
Institutional framework
An institutional structure should be as light-weight and goal-oriented as possible. It should be based on well-tried community mechanisms. Appointing a Special Coordinator might be an adequate formula, as well as creating appropriate working bodies (e.g. conferences or tables) as the needs arise. As the multilateral co-operation develops, ministerial meetings might become a matter for consideration. They could include the EU troika, neighbouring countries and the willing member states. Multilateral parliamentary co-operation would also be of use.
Areas of co-operation
Areas of co-operation might be divided into the following subject fields:
I: political and security
Democracy, common values, rule of law, as well as co-operation in the field of foreign and security policy, civil service and local administration;
II: Borders and trans-border movement
Migrations, making visa regimes more flexible, border infrastructure;
III: economic and financial
Implementation of reforms foreseen in the Action Plans; economic integration of the Eastern neighbours, removing trade barriers between the EU and the Eastern neighbourhood; development of transport and teleinformatic networks; energy; co-operation between independent regulators; tourism;
IV: environment
Countering climatic change, environment-friendly technologies, developing ecological consciousness within society;
V: social
Cross-border co-operation, people-to-people contacts, development of co-operation between NGOs, educational programmes, joint research.
