Public coalition for the EU-Belarus visa-free movement launched
A number of well-known
Belarusian NGOs and think tanks have joined forces within a public
VISA-FREE coalition. Assisted by partners from EU member states,
Belarusians are going to advocate the idea of visa-free travel between
Belarus and other European countries.
We
will make every effort to assist civic initiatives of Belarus in this
ambitious undertaking. Actually, initiating a dialogue with the European
colleagues on facilitating people-to-people contacts should be a task
for the government of Belarus; however, as the authorities are hesitant
to remove the artificial barriers, it is up for the civil society to
make its voice heard,“ – says Tomas Tomilinas of „Belarus Watch“ NGO,
the Lithuanian partner of the coalition.
The
coalition will be engaged in the VISA-FREE public campaign to promote
arguments for lifting the visa regime, a tool which proved bad for
addressing issues of illegal migration and organized crime, however,
very efficient in preventing economic, cultural, community etc. ties.
„Being
a survival of the Cold War, the visa regime is a major obstacle for the
pro-European aspirations of the Belarusian public. The highly
bureaucratic visa-application procedure is making the situation even
worse”, - says Dzianis Melyantsou, a political analyst of the Belarusian
Institute for Strategic Studies.
Belarus
is a participant of the EU Eastern Partnership program. The visa-free
movement is stipulated as a potential goal in the program founding
documents.
Regardless
of political contradictions between Belarus and the EU as well as
sanctions introduced by Brussels against the Belarusian leadership, the
negotiations on visa regime have not been frozen. Surveys suggest
opportunities of free travel to the EU member states are the highest
among the expectations of the Belarusian people in relations with the
EU. Facilitation of short-term trips rather than long-term brain drain
or labour migration is a priority for the upcoming campaign.