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There are no talks with the European Union to formalize any roadmaps, foreign ministry spokesman says

Minsk is holding no talks with the European Union to formalize any roadmaps, Andrey Papow, spokeswoman for the Belarusian foreign ministry, told reporters on Thursday.

A so-called roadmap for the normalization of relations between the EU and Belarus was discussed during Tuesday’s meeting in Minsk between Hugues Mingarelli, deputy director general of the European Commission's Directorate-General for External Relations, and Belarus’ opposition leaders.

According to Anatol Lyabedzka, chairman of the United Civic Party, the opposition’s proposals for the roadmap included: amending the Electoral Code, creating equal conditions for the state and non-state media and ensuring access to the broadcasting media for the opposition, creating proper conditions for political parties’ activities, and abolishing the Criminal Code articles that criminalize activities on behalf of an unregistered organization, slander against the president and other government officials, and the "discrediting of the Republic of Belarus."

As Mr. Lyabedzka told BelaPAN, the EU’s version also included the above-listed conditions, but contained one more point, which called for a “moratorium on political prisoners in Belarus.”
“Under the agreements that the sides reached during the recent meetings of Belarusian Foreign Minister Syarhey Martynaw with the leadership of the European Commission and the EU Council for External Relations, we continue consultations for the purpose of bringing cooperation into a practical stage in the areas in which our sides have an absolutely clear mutual interest,” said the foreign ministry’s spokesman. “We’ve repeatedly said what these areas are. They include the trade and economic sphere, cooperation in customs affairs, the development of transit infrastructure, energy security, and a whole number of other areas.”

Cooperation with the EU “is entering a practical phase, which means contacts at the level of experts,” Mr. Papow said. Belarus welcomes this fact and hopes that this work will be done in the interests of both Belarus and the European Union, he noted. “We want this work to continue,” he added.

Mr. Papow also commented on a statement by Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Kabyakow who said at a meeting with Mr. Mingarelli on Wednesday that Belarus “realizes the need to continue working on the so-called homework stipulated by the EU-Belarus dialogue and expects the European Union to make adequate moves in response to that.”

“As for the homework, neither of the sides is imposing anything on the other side,” the spokesman said. “Mutual respect is a fundamental principle of cooperation. We proceed from the assumption that the sides have a mutual interest. We don't ask anything of anyone. We offer cooperation where we think the EU could derive benefits. We raise a whole number of problems and issues during the talks. We don’t evade the problems and issues that our European partners raise. They concern various subjects. But we believe that we should move toward achieving specific results in our cooperation.”

The EU’s proposals “are of practical interest to us,” Mr. Papow said. “We want to get closer to the European space, including the common standards that are applied in Europe in the economic and environmental spheres. This meets the interests of Belarus. We hope that our European partners will use the potential of technical and advisory assistance. We are open for cooperation.”