How Effective is the EU’s Policy Towards Belarus?

The EU’s policy towards Belarus has to date been largely ineffective. The lack of a clear strategy has resulted in a cooperation that tends to be either purely technical and pragmatic or has an air of arbitrariness about it. The EU-Belarus relations over the last two years can be described as an economic cooperation and at the same time as an attempt to support the cumbersome processes of change in Belarus in the long term. The Belarusian authorities use the cooperation with the EU as an example of Belarus’s international progress and recognition. And yet it is difficult to spot any serious attempts of the Lukashenko government to change its approach in the areas most criticised by the EU and its member states: human rights, democratisation and civil society development. Some demonstrative steps like granting two independent newspapers access to the state-run distribution service or facilitating registration procedures for entrepreneurs are no signs of serious political changes. Is the EU’s policy an adequate response to the current situation in Belarus? How can the effectiveness of the EU’s policy towards Belarus be improved? What kind of strategy could the EU use to support civil society development in Belarus under the present conditions? How can the cooperation results be made sustainable?