Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-01-14-Speech-3-484"
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"en.20090114.21.3-484"2
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"Mr President, I have seen that a very broad majority has the same opinion that we have. That means that we have offered the possibility for Belarus to come closer to the European Union through the European Neighbourhood Policy. We have offered, in principle, a shadow action plan and also a possibility to join the Eastern Partnership at the right moment when, of course, the conditions will be right.
Having said this, let me just answer a few of those specific points that you have made. One on the financial crisis: Belarus has sustained the effects of the financial crisis and the rising gas prices in 2007 and 2008 reasonably well so far, due to its very limited integration in the global economy and also the substantial loans from Russia, China and Venezuela. Now however, as I think Mr Belder rightly said, it has had to ask the IMF for a standby loan of EUR 2.5 billion, including then devaluating its currency in order to counter the negative effects of the global crisis. Since its economy and industry remain largely unreformed and unstructured, we expect the negative tendency to continue with negative social consequences as a result. So you are right – this is an important factor.
On the nuclear power plant and the questions about security and safety, let me tell you that, in our technical dialogue on energy with Belarus, we pay special attention also to ensuring that this country respects international safety and security standards. We could say that Belarus cooperates very actively with the IAEA in Vienna and has been remarkably open to providing the Commission with information on this process.
Having said this, I just would like also to come back to the question of the visa fees. As I said in my first remark, you know that we would be ready to contribute to the negotiation as soon as the Council has also expressed the position to try to manage that, bringing all the Member States to the possibility of having a whole visa agreement as well as a re-admission agreement. Following the visit of my deputy director-general, Mr Mingarelli, to Minsk I can tell you that for the moment there is nothing new on this particular item. I just can say that visa fees and visas for children are specific to each and every country. We are not yet at the point of having one general agreement. That, again, would have to be negotiated by the Commission."@en1
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