Opinions & Interviews
Belarus’ MFA: Sanctions alienate EU from Belarus
MINSK, 2 October (BelTA) – By the decision adopted by the Council of the European Union, the EU has alienated its neighbor - Belarus, the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement, BelTA has learned.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that in recent years Belarus has been actively and persistently working to strengthen the relations with the EU for the sake of people and security in the common region. "The positive results have been tangible for both sides. That's a fact. So is a fact that the European Union has not been able to enact, over a quarter of a century, the Agreement on Partnership and Cooperation with Belarus, but a few weeks was enough for it to impose sanctions. Probably, it would have done it faster, if not for the holiday season which is so dear for Europeans,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
“In fact, everything is simple: the EU again does not want to offer its partner anything but sanctions. Such a ‘reward’ awaits everyone who sincerely works to improve bilateral relations, but does not tow the line begging for the club card?” the statement said.
“Pro-democratic totalitarianism is even more assertive than the communist one. Not only different opinions, details and nuances, but even obvious facts are rejected a priori if they are not in sync with the ‘right ideology’,” the Belarusian ministry said. “Unfortunately, such EU policy got trapped in an illusory picture of events in Belarus, where there is supposedly a permanent ‘fight of good against evil’ in which all means are used while the role of ‘evil’ is invariably assigned to the legitimate government.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs cautioned against entertaining the illusion that such steps will not affect citizens and other avenues of cooperation: "Officials making such decisions in the EU are well aware that this is a utopia. Any such attacks affect people, their security, welfare and economy. There is no need to be a hypocrite. It is these cynical and inconsiderate decisions that shape the image of the European bureaucracy which scares away and alarms many within the EU and its partners. In this regard, Brexit becomes even more understandable,” the ministry said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the sanctions had been imposed as a measure to punish Belarus for not meeting a set of ultimatums that no self-respecting sovereign state, first of all the EU member states, would comply with.
“Political will and common sense still cannot prevail over deeply entrenched messiah complex and mental division of countries into the ‘old world’ and the ‘new world’, into first-class people who have rights, and all the rest who, as a rule, have obligations only. It is hard to imagine, for example, that Poland would agree to hold a re-run if the Eurasian Economic Union or the Collective Security Treaty Organization decided that the presidential election winner was Rafal Trzaskowski and not Andrzej Duda,” the Belarusian ministry said.
It is sad that the neighboring countries, who more than anyone should be interested in a stable, independent, sovereign and prosperous Belarus, are the ones who are showing their zeal in deteriorating relations with Belarus, the ministry said.
The ministry stressed that throughout its history, Belarus has consistently demonstrated its commitment to the fundamental norms and rules of international relations, the principles of the Helsinki Dialogue, such as sovereign equality, peaceful settlement of disputes and non-interference in each other's internal affairs.
“Hegel's famous quote says that ‘History teaches us that man learns nothing from history’. By alienating Belarus, our partners from the EU are forgetting the tragic lessons of history that will not forgive them,” the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
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