President of the European Council Herman van Rompuy, said in Prague on February 23 that the European Union intended to continue its relationship with the official Minsk. According to him, the EU will "preserve its policy of critical and conditional cooperation with the government" within the Eastern Partnership initiative. This was reported in the press service of the EU Council.
At the same time, the politician said that the «Eastern partnership» appeared to him as «the best tool to strengthen our cooperation with the Belarusian civil society.» «This approach would provide the EU with the best opportunities to advance its political agenda,» said Herman van Rompuy.
«We must not forget the mutual commitment, based on respect for democratic principles, rule of law and human rights. The European Council expressed its particular concern over the situation in Belarus a few weeks ago,» stressed the President of the European Council.
«Although the recent events have focused our political attention on the south, we certainly cannot afford forgetting about the EU’s Eastern neighbors, with whom we’ll have a summit later this year. We need to make sure that this partnership, which began in Prague two years ago, will gain new incentive, as well as it focuses on strategic issues such as democracy, good governance and progress in respect of some unresolved conflicts,» said Herman van Rompuy.
According to Telegraf, the first meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the EU Eastern Partnership (Euronest), scheduled for March, will take place without the participation of the Belarusian delegation. This decision of the Conference of Presidents of political factions of the European Parliament was announced by Chairman of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek.
