On March 22, the Ambassador of the European Union in Belarus Dirk Schubel with the support of the ideas of the Belarusian opposition. He declared the need to negotiate the authorities with its representatives who "should lead to free democratic elections this year." At the same time, Brussels is ready to expand the sanctions against official Minsk and continue the financial Belarusian civil society. For what and how the EU cooperates with political activists of Belarus, the doctor of political sciences, Professor SPbSU Natalia Eremin, analyzed.
EU Foreign Policy Principles
Support for civil society in third countries, the agenda of human rights and democratization remain basic in EU foreign policy, which represents itself as a guarantor of democratic processes. Having contributed to the democratization of a country, the European Union uses different methods, ranging from sanctions, ending with specific preferences in the trade and economic sphere. In addition, the trade and economic partnership itself depends on the EU's opinion on the political situation in the country-partner and the implementation of its government of certain political requirements and reforms.Thus, Brussels acts as a judge and a strict teacher at the same time, which determines that the partner's country needs to be fulfilled, and punishing the failure to fulfill its orders.
Therefore, the EU dialogue and Belarus is due to the requirements from Brussels to conduct political reforms in Belarus, to allow opposition to political processes and introduce a moratorium on the death penalty. The post-Soviet countries included in the Eastern Partnership interact with Brussels in such such as the framework.
Difficult dialogue Minsk and Brussels
To the most difficult for cooperation, from the point of view of Brussels, countries include Belarus, because it is clearly and consistently defended its position in relation to internal political processes. It is for this reason that the European Union most often used the sanctions tool. Thus, restrictive measures against Belarus were once again extended. Moreover, the August protests of 2020 provided the opportunity to representatives of the EU represented by the head of Evroodiplomia Josepa Burlel very hard to declare violation of human rights, about the lack of legitimacy of President Alexander Lukashenko, about some unprecedented repression against the activists of the Coordination Center.
At the same time, such a rigid position of Brussels regarding official Minsk deprives him of developing cooperation with him. Moreover, the EU has indeed chose as the main tool for cooperation between the government and the gingerbread in relation to public, mainly opposition, organizations.
So, on October 2, 2020, the Council introduced restrictive measures against 44 people recognized as guilty of repression and intimidation of peaceful demonstrators, members of the opposition and journalists after the presidential elections of 2020 in Belarus, as well as for unlawful conduct of the electoral process. Restrictive measures include ban on travel and freezing assets. The travel ban does not allow the entrance to the EU or transit territory included in the list, while the freezing of assets is used against the economic resources of the listed persons. In addition, citizens and companies of the European Union are prohibited to cooperate with those in the sanctions list. In November 2020, the second round of sanctions followed, already in relation to Lukashenko and 14 other officials.
In December 2020, new sanctions were adopted against high-ranking officials, businessmen and companies, "cooperating with the regime or supporting it" so that they would "realize that the support of the regime is expensive to them." Moreover, after the August events in Brussels, they marked that "the level of participation of Belarus in Eastern Partnership depends on the overall development of relations between the EU and Belarus in the context of compliance with international law and human rights," Belarus was recommended to solve the problems of human rights in accordance with EU instructions.
Thus, the European Union conducted a clear dividing line, separating civil society from power. And, undoubtedly, he will contribute to the deepening of this gap and the growth of distrust between society and power, since Svetlana Tikhanovskaya calls as a legitimate representative of the Belarusian neighborhood. Therefore, there is no alternative. EU, making tough statements, will not allow themselves to show flexibility.
Civil society in the center of the Political Mission
To date, the European Union has formed the platforms and the mechanisms of its support. Already in December 2020, the European Commission allocated € 24 million to help representatives of the Belarusian civil society. Moreover, the head of neighborhood policies and expansion even emphasized that "the EU is shocked by the courage of the Belarusian opposition, and the allocated amount considers as the first step in assistance to it." Moreover, this amount is only part of € 53 million, which he mobilized in support of the public of Belarus after the August events.Brussels indicates that the EU is committed to the policy of critical cooperation with Belarus ... ". He spent several meetings devoted to the specific support of civil society in Belarus. For example, in January 2021, a meeting of representatives of the European Union was held, which, together with Tikhanov, discussed, which activities will be useful for the opposition. In February 2021, the EU was celebrated by the Day of Solidarity with Belarus. On this day, Brussels made a statement that "the EU has intensified its support to the people of Belarus and is ready to help democratic Belarus with various means, including a comprehensive economic assistance plan."
In addition, the countries of the European Union (Poland, Germany) reported that they decided to support civilian activists. Among support measures are educational programs for oppositionists, paying them scholarships and admission to EU educational institutions. For example, € 21 million were allocated in Germany to these tasks.
More recently, on March 18, 2021, the Delegation of the European Union in Belarus announced a competition proposals for projects that will be implemented in Belarus with a total budget of € 3 million. The purpose of the projects is the development of gender equality, strengthening the vote of young people.
RESULTS
Thus, the EU was determined with attitudes towards the Belarusian government, made a bet on the opposition and civil society.
All the projects offered by the European Union are now related to the provision of assistance in solving various community tasks, and rather associated with the EU image, rather than with real social challenges.
It is obvious that official Minsk is not amenable to political pressure, but it is not interested in the full breakdown of relations with Brussels. In this situation, some civilian activist groups will receive an advantage in direct cooperation with the official European Union. Therefore, the Belarusian society periodically will still shook from time to time.
Natalia Eremin, Doctor of Political Sciences, Professor SPbSU