EU Council to consider resuming Belarus-EU partnership agreement

MINSK, 13 November (BelTA) – The possibility of resuming the agreement on partnership between Belarus and the European Union will be considered at a session of the EU Council for General Affairs and External Relations in Brussels on 16-17 November, BelTA learned from Jean-Eric Holzapfel, Charge d'affaires a.i of the European Commission in Belarus.

The agreement mainly regulates trade relations. Jean-Eric Holzapfel underlined that trade is an important part of the Belarus-EU cooperation. It is a separate area, which proper development requires a contractual legal framework.

At present the 1989 agreement is in effect because the 1995 agreement on partnership and cooperation has not been ratified by European Union member-states. “It is suspended for now. Both the Belarusian side and us would like to resume the agreement,” noted the head of the European Commission’s representation in Belarus.

As a positive example of the development of the legal base between Belarus and the European Union he mentioned the ratification of a framework agreement, which is supposed to shape the legal base for implementing Belarus-EU technical cooperation projects and regulates the implementation of joint programs. The ratification is about to complete.

The framework agreement between the Belarusian government and the Commission of European Communities was ratified by the House of Representatives of the National Assembly on 8 October 2009. It was ratified by the Council of the Republic on 22 October.