ArmInfo.The visit of the President of Belarus to the European Union is a significant event, and hopefully, it will allow Belarus to enter into some kind of sustainable stabilization of relations with the EU. Yauheni Preiherman, the Founder and Director of the Minsk Dialogue Council on International Relations, stated during a round table on the topic "Experience of Belarus. Is it possible to survive between West and East?"
It should be noted that on November 11, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko paid an official visit to Austria, which was his first trip to the European Union since 2016.
Speaking about the existing relations between Belarus and the EU, Preiherman drew attention to the factor that Belarus remains the only country in the region that does not have any basic agreement with the EU.
"In fact, we are working under the 1989 Agreement on Trade and Cooperation with the USSR. An agreement on cooperation between Belarus and the EU was signed in the late 90s, but was never ratified by the European side because they did not recognize the results of the referendum in Belarus and declared them illegal. We have almost reached the point where an agreement called "Partnership Priorities" has been concluded, and in the opinion of the European Union, it should become an interim document between the missing legal framework and future agreements in the format of a partnership and cooperation agreement, "he said.
At the same time, Preiherman explained that negotiations around the partnership and cooperation agreement with the EU could not be successfully completed due to Lithuania's tough stance regarding the construction of a nuclear power plant near the border by Belarus.
The expert expressed hope that an agreement on visa facilitation between the EU and Belarus would be signed in the near future, assuring that the document would give an additional politically important impetus to these relations.