EU looks to its neighours after Russian-Georgian war

Sep 6, 2008, 9:30 GMT

Avignon, France - The European Union must push for closer ties with Belarus and Georgia and conflict resolution in Moldova if it is to counter Russia's growing assertiveness in eastern Europe, EU foreign ministers said Saturday.

'It is a very good time to rethink our relations with Belarus. Belarus is sending desperate signals to the West,' Lithuanian Foreign Minister Petras Vaitiekunas told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

'It's Russia and Georgia, it's Belarus also, but on the whole it's a question of regional development,' EU foreign-affairs commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said as the second day of the informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in the French town of Avignon opened.

Officially, Saturday's talks were set to focus on the EU's relationship with Russia and Georgia following their war in August.

But with French President Nicolas Sarkozy - the current holder of the EU's rotating presidency - set to travel to Moscow for talks on the issue on Monday, the ministers turned their focus to the question of how to respond to Russia's new assertiveness.

'It's important that Russia respects the fundamental principles that it says it has committed to. Those are about respecting territorial integrity, democratic governance and international law,' British foreign minister David Miliband said.

In particular, they were expected to discuss the bloc's relationship with Belarus. The authoritarian regime of President Alexander Lukashenko is currently the target of EU sanctions, but following the regime's release of all political prisoners over the summer, some member states are calling for the lifting of sanctions.

'I hope we can give a positive response to a positive decision,' EU foreign-policy chief Javier Solana said.

However, member states remained divided on whether they should make a move before Belarus holds elections on September 28.

'It would be good to send some signals now, and in case of democratic free and fair elections to change (the EU's) general policies,' Vaitiekunas said.

'We'll have to have a look at that at a later stage,' Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb said.

EU officials say that a key question is whether Belarus will follow Russia's lead and recognize the independence of the breakaway Georgian provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia - something the EU firmly rejects.

'Belarus can show real willingness to open up, move closer to Western Europe if they do not also recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia. But of course Belarus at the moment is under very heavy pressure from Russia,' Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet said.