How to Lower Schengen Visa Fees for Belarusians By Dzianis Melyantsou and Vitali Silitski (abstracts) Despite the fact that an increase in visa fees was caused by objective reasons (the accession of the new EU member states to the Schengen Zone, the introduction of a common electronic data base and a more complicated visa-issue procedure), this provoked a negative reaction from both official Minsk and the Belarusian civil society, a rare demonstration of consensus between otherwise divided political forces. The Ministry of (...)

Belarusian Issue at NATO PA Session in Berlin On May 24-27, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly held its spring session. This year, parliamentarians from the NATO member states and associate members, partner countries, representatives of interparliamentary assemblies and observers gathered in the German capital Berlin. Many topics were discussed during the meetings of the Assembly’s five committees and at the plenary session, including the cooperation of the NATO PA with Russia, questions about European energy security, the (...)

Information Evening on Chernobyl in the United World College of the Adriatic On May 4, on the initiative of the Office for a Democratic Belarus (Brussels), the united World College of the Adriatic (Triest, Italy) organized an information evening dedicated to the 22nd anniversary of the Chernobyl catastrophe. The presentation was held in the framework of extra curriculum student activities called Focus. The United World Colleges is a unique net of educational establishments founded in the UK in 1962. The main goal is to promote (...)

Debates in the EP on Costs of Schengen Visas for Belarusians and Ukrainians On April 21, at the beginning of the European Parliament’s session in Strasbourg (France), the vice-president of the European Commission, Mr Jacques Barrot, presented a statement on cost of a Schengen visa for citizens of Ukraine and Belarus. His intervention was followed by a debate. On Belarus, the Commissioner said that the current regulations will not be reviewed in the near future. "The opening of discussions on a possible facilitation of issuing (...)

Belarus—the Struggle for Freedom of Expression In cooperation with the Office for a Democratic Belarus, the Hamburg Foundation for Politically Persecuted (Hamburger Stiftung für politisch Verfolgte) and the Hanse-office in Brussels organized an evening discussion on the difficult media situation and problems with freedom of expression in Belarus. The event, scheduled on the next day after a large-scale demonstration in Minsk that was brutally dispersed by the riot police, gathered large number participants eager to hear (...)

Belarus Says Last “Good-Bye” to Iryna Kazulina In September 2007, Iryna Kazulina was one of the organizers of an international conference on breast cancer. She wrote a book about her struggle with the disease but did not manage to complete it. “The fact of illness is not a reason for selfisolation, to speak of accepting any sacrifice from my relatives,” she said. “I believe that life should go on and the illness is not a good reason to disturb its course. It’s necessary to try to do everything possible and continue (...)

The Office for a Democratic Belarus expresses its support for the campaign initiated in the European Parliament and aimed at reducing the costs of Schengen visas for the Belarusian citizens. Belarus remains the only country of the EU Eastern neighbourhood whose citizens have to pay €60 for a single-entry Schengen visa, which amounts to almost one third of the average monthly salary in the country. Lowering costs of the visa and easing the procedure of receiving it would help tremendously to avoid the isolation of the Belarusian (...)

PACE: Pourgourides Line vs. Rigoni Line towards Belarus Active discussions on Belarus at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) stopped in 2004, following release of the well-known Pourgourides Report and, consequently, adoption of the Resolution on Disappeared Persons, as well as the Resolution on Persecution of the Press in the Republic of Belarus. In the course of 2004-2005, PACE continuously made statements condemning the grave situation with human rights, political freedoms and independent media, and (...)

Schengen Zone Expansion: Consequences for Belarus By Dzyanis Melyantsou for the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies Europe's Schengen arrangement, which allows people to cross borders without having their passports checked, expanded on December 21, 2007 to nine new members of the European Union – the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. Three of these countries share borders with Belarus. What are the consequences of the move for the Belarusian citizens and the country's (...)

US President Bush Receives Belarusian Opposition Leaders US President George W. Bush received a delegation of Belarusian opposition politicians in Washington on December 6, the White House’s press office reported. The delegation, which arrived in the USA on December 2 and left on December 8, included Alyaksandr Milinkevich, a former presidential candidate; Anatol Lyabedzka, chairman of the United Civic Party; Syarhey Kalyakin, leader of the Belarusian Party of Communists; Anatol Lyawkovich, acting chairman of the Belarusian (...)