The EU has recently been trying to pursue a policy of engagement with Belarus with the aim of creating conditions for democratic reforms. The Belarusian side has taken a few symbolic steps, but without showing any desire to change systems.
Reports on the situation of citizens and political rights from organizations such as Amnesty and Human Rights Watch, as well as from the Swedish and American ministries for foreign affairs, agree that freedoms of expression, association and assembly are not respected. There is no guarantee of a right to a fair trial. And the state controls the most important mass media forms. The government has clamped down on oppositional media. It has also persecuted opposition parties, independent trade unions, non-governmental organizations and religious gatherings.
President Lukashenko came to power in 1994. In a controversial referendum, the constitution was then changed so that the president can now be re-elected an unlimited number of times. Neither the presidential elections in 2006 nor the parliamentary elections in 2008 fulfilled international democratic norms, according to international election observers.
Fewer poor people
The government applies an economic policy called market socialism. The number of poor people has fallen from 40 per cent in 1997 to 13 per cent in 2005, according to the World. Bank’s estimation. However, the question is whether the strong growth of 7 per cent per year is sustainable with the powerful rise in energy prices of 2009. The global financial crisis has hit the country hard and it has received sizeable loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The loans come with demands to liberalize and deregulate the economy.
Belarus a part of the Eastern Partnership
Contacts with the West are complicated and have been characterized by restrictions and periodic rapprochements. The West has been trying to increase pressure on Belarus because of its authoritarian political rule. At the same time, the EU wants to maintain contacts and there are hopes that Belarusian participation in the Eastern Partnership will be instrumental in strengthening the democratic processes in the country. Belarus is the only European country that is not a member of the Council of Europe. One realpolitik issue is Western Europe’s dependency on oil and gas from Russia. The Druzhba oil pipeline runs through Belarus.
Belarusian history
As a young nation state, Belarus is looking for its identity. Through its history, the area has been dominated by Russians, Poles, Lithuanians and further back, perhaps even Swedes.
Kristian Gerner, professor in Eastern European history and Culture at Uppsala University, writes:
“In order for those people who speak Belarusian and feel Belarusian to feel that they have a fixed identity, they need to feel as though they are part of a long history.”
And this history must be its own. Belarusian history must be constructed because there was no internationally recognized independent state by the name of Belarus before 1991. However, the opposition’s red-and-white flag has its origins in the Belarusian national republic, which existed for a short period in 1918, in the aftermath of the First World War. Reviving the Belarusian identity and building up the self-esteem of a population that has suffered adversity is one important factor for the country’s development towards a democratic state.Sweden’s co-operation with Belarus
The majority of Sweden’s co-operation with Belarus is about promoting democracy, human rights, freedom of expression and freedom of the media, as well as environmental co-operation.
Sweden’s focus areas:
- Democracy, civil society, human rights, media and information
- Culture, education and research
- Private trade and industry
- Environment
- Social services and health care.
