The roundtable discussion “EU-Belarus puzzle: rethinking European policy” will take place on 19 June 2013, 14.00-15.30 at the European Parliament in Brussels (room PHS 1C51).

Relations between the EU and Belarusan authorities remain a challenging puzzle for Brussels. Since 1997 the EU has applied number of different approaches to establish cooperation leading to democratisation, Europeanisation and modernisation of Belarus. During the spring 2012, European Dialogue on Modernisation was launched. However, little progress can be observed so far.

Belarusan experts Elena Tonkacheva and Andrei Yahorau argue that there is big difference between European declarations and practice. Civil society remains underestimated as Belarusan development actor and stakeholder in EU-Belarus relations. Year 2013, when the European Parliament is preparing its recommendation on how the EU policy towards Belarus should look like, is the good moment to reflect on the work done by the international community and the Belarusian civil society since 2010 and beyond. Lessons learned from this period, best practices and failures, promises given by both sides and their implementation must be considered in designing European policy towards Belarus.

Draft agenda of the conference:

• Opening remarks by Mr Werner Schulz
• Mr Andrei Yahorau, Centre for European Transformation
• Mrs Elena Tonkacheva, Legal Transformation Centre (Lawtrend)
• Mr Justas Paleckis, MEP, Rapporteur on Belarus (tbc)
• Mr Stefan Tressing, EEAS (tbc)

The discussion will be followed by the presentation of the book “Afterword... Square 2010 through the eyes of Belarusan human rights defenders”. It is a unique analytical piece, result of monitoring and analysis of 14 politically motivated trials after the events of December 19, 2010. It puts the trials and the guilty verdicts in the broader socio-political context of contemporary Belarus. Book can be downloaded for free here (in English) or here (in Russian).

Working languages: English, Russian. Please make your registration by Monday, 17 May, at noon.

For more information, please contact:

Alena Zuikova — International Consortium "Eurobelarus" in Brussels
Phone: +32 27420161
Email to: [email protected]
http://eurobelarus.info