World press: Europe is playing a risky game with Lukashenka (Updated)
- 29.04.2009, 12:39
“There is a threat that Lukashenka will come to a conclusion that nothing more should be changed in Belarus, when he would be received in European capitals again,” the Polish daily “Rzeczpospolita” writes.
In the article called “Risky game with Lukashenka” Piotr Koscinski reminds that the Belarusian ruler is called “the last dictator of Europe”.
“The European Union has agreed to lift visa sanctions against the Belarusian top officials after just modest compromises by Minsk, that is, release of political prisoners, which des not mean that constant court trials against oppositionists stop, and that the attitude to anti-regime demonstrations would be milder; minimal democratization of electoral procedures would take place and situation with independent mass media would improve,” “Rzeczpospolita” notes.
But as Piotr Koscinski warns: “There is a threat that Lukashenka will come to a conclusion that nothing more should be changed in Belarus, when he would be received in European capitals again. In the future the European Union should exert pressure on Minsk and remind that the agreement for the visit to Rome or for participation in the EU summit in Prague does not mean approval of everything which is taking place in Belarus”.
The audience of Lukashenka by the Pope was covered in all Italian newspapers. “La Repubblica” published an article called “Lukashenka: Dictator in Rome”.
“Since 1995 Lukashenka, the last dictator of Europe, as he had been called by the US Department of State, was in no European capitals. Since the moment when Lukashenka’s regime started to dispose of oppositionists and stifle the occasional manifestations of democracy, the EU and the US responded with ever harsher isolation to him.
But over the recent months Europe started to treat Minsk more benevolently. Relations between Minks and Moscow have grown worse because of Moscow’s intention to make Minsk pay market cost for gas delivered to Belarus. Due to the difficult geopolitical and geo-energetic game in which Europe have become involved, the EU has become interested in termination of Lukashenka’s isolation, while the last dictator in his turn is interested in not being in full dependence from Moscow,” the newspaper notes.
“La Stampa” writes that “Lukashenka was looking for help in the palace of Chigi, so that the door to Europe would open wider for him in the run-up to the summit in Prague which is to announce the Eastern Partnership”. Hoverer, as the newspaper writes, Lukashenka is unlikely to take part in this summit, as many of the 27 European leaders opposed his presence there.
“From Europe Lukashenka is waiting for assistance in overcoming the exacerbating economic crisis and support in transformation of relations with Moscow. But Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi and Foreign Minister Franco Frattini reminded him that Europe would come to relief if Belarus follows the path of democracy and guarantees fundamental rights of its citizens,” the newspaper writes.
The German “Tagesspiegel” in its article “Guest that shouldn’t be” again turns attention to invitation of Alyaksandr Lukashenka to the EU summit in Prague.
The author of the article Claudia von Salzen writes that “almost invisibly for the eyes of the public the European Union has changed its policy towards Belarus drastically, having proceeded form the policy of sanctions to the policy of a dialogue”.
As the newspaper writes, “the EU had long discussions whether the authoritarian leader of the state Alyaksandr Lukashenka could be at the table during the summit in Prague. After the rigged elections in 2006 he was banned entry to the EU countries, however last autumn these sanctions were lifted. Now Lukashenka triumphs in Belarusian mass media: the Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg handed him an invitation to the summit. Thus, Lukashenka was the first person invited to the meeting, even before the Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel and other leaders of the EU states and governments”.
At the same time, “Tagesspiegel” notes that “the decision of Europeans faced well-marked antagonism of Belarusian oppositionists. The invitation is a “withdrawal from fundamental moral values of Europe”, stated the former presidential candidate and former political prisoner Alyaksandr Kazulin. And an oppositionist Anatol Lyabedzka reproached the EU of surrendering to the Belarusian rulers”.
Marieluise Beck, a member of the German Bundestag (Bundnis 90/Green Party and Free Democratic Party of Germany (FDPG) faction) who returned from a visit to Minsk on Tuesday, criticized the actions of the European Union. “It is a slap in the face of the oppositional movement,” she said to “Tagesspiegel”. “The EU hasn’t involved Belarusian opponents of the regime to reorientation of their strategy towards Belarus. “Human rights activists shouldn’t be turned adrift and our backs shouldn’t be turned on them because of the pacification policy towards the leadership in Minsk.” It is also not clear whether the new EU partnership with Belarus had been linked with certain conditions.
“Belarusian human rights activists followed the visit of the EU High Representative Javier Solana to Minsk in February with great disappointment: thus, they noticed absence of clear public message concerning the violence by Belarusian regime against demonstrators which had taken place not long before that visit,” the German newspaper noted.
The invitation to the summit to Prague has been addressed to Lukashenka. But in the text he wasn’t named, and the invitation is sent to the country in general, an official representative of the Czech Foreign Ministry said. Belarus is to decide itself who would take part in the summit, Prague underlines. The EU diplomats secretly hope that Lukashenka won’t come, but would send someone instead of him, "Tagesspiegel” writes.