Brussels - The European Union's foreign ministers face tough
talks on Monday when they meet in Luxembourg to debate whether or not
to push for closer ties with Russia and Belarus.
The ministers are set to discuss, in particular, whether the bloc
should re-open talks with Moscow on a wide-ranging strategic deal,
which EU leaders froze after August's Russian occupation of Georgia,
and whether the EU should push for closer ties with Minsk, despite a
general election which observers saw as deeply flawed.
Both issues are controversial. Some EU states say that neither
country has done enough to earn a warmer relationship with Europe.
Officially, the meeting is set to 'take stock of the political
situation' in Georgia and its breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South
Ossetia following the deployment of EU monitors to the area on
October 1 and the subsequent pull-out of Russian troops.
But diplomats say that it is likely to become a test of strength
between those member states who want a quick relaunch of talks and
those who hold that Russia has not yet done enough to deserve closer
ties.
On September 1, EU leaders at an emergency summit on the Georgian-
Russian war decided that the bloc would suspend talks on a planned
Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) with Russia 'until troops
have withdrawn to the positions held prior to 7 August.'
One week later, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed to pull
his troops out of Georgia itself if EU monitors stepped in. But 24
hours later he announced that his country was going to more than
double the number of its troops in the breakaway regions.
The decision split EU opinion. Some member states, especially in
Central and Eastern Europe, argue that the troop build-up in Abkhazia
and South Ossetia meant that Russia had not 'withdrawn to the
positions held' before the war broke out.
But others, especially in Western Europe, point out that Russia
has long maintained troops in the breakaway zones, and that therefore
a withdrawal from the so-called 'buffer zones' adjacent to Abkhazia
and South Ossetia would be enough to justify reopening talks.
Diplomats stress that no decision on the issue is expected before
a summit of EU leaders on Wednesday, but that the foreign ministers'
debate will indicate whether an agreement is likely.
Also on Monday, EU ministers are set to discuss whether they
should lift or lighten their current visa bans on top Belarusian
officials as a response to Minsk's decision over the summer to
release its last political prisoners.
Officials say that EU member states are keen to encourage Belarus
to take a pro-Western path in the wake of the Georgian conflict.
Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb, current holder of the
presidency of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE), on October 7 said that it was 'time to turn the page in
Belarusian-European relations.'
But some states point out that OSCE observers ruled that
parliamentary elections in Belarus on September 28 'fell short of
OSCE commitments for democratic elections' and insist that the EU
should not make any move until Belarusian President Alexander
Lukashenko passes democratic reforms.
Belarus Foreign Minister Sergei Martynov has been invited to meet
EU officials on the margins of the talks, but diplomats say that it
is not yet clear whether he will attend.
USA
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