DUTCH ON EXCLUDING BELARUSIAN MINISTER FROM THE

C O N F I D E N T I A L THE HAGUE 001880

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/25/2014
TAGS: KOLY PHUM PREL BO NL EUN
SUBJECT: DUTCH ON EXCLUDING BELARUSIAN MINISTER FROM THE
OLYMPICS

REF: STATE 160967

Classified By: CLASSIFIED BY ANDREW SCHOFER FOR REASONS 1.5 (B AND D)

(C) PolMilOff delivered reftel points to MFA Belarus Desk
Officer Daniel Melchers on July 26. Melchers acknowledged
Dutch (and UK) support for barring Sivakov. The French and
the Germans, however, continue to argue that visa bans are
one of the few things the EU can do, and that the EU should
therefore not use them too often. Greece was arguing that a
ban would not be in the "Olympic Spirit" and that there
should be "no politics" involved in the games. Melchers
expected the Greeks to refuse to take action. He said "one
thing is sure, we won't shake hands with him, and he won't be
photographed with the Prince of ORANGE (the Dutch Crown
Prince)." Melchers claimed the Dutch, as EU President, had
their hands tied since visa bans needed to be agreed at 25.
He said that the only thing the GONL could do at this point
was make another approach to the French and Germans, as they
might be worried about the status of the European Humanities
University. Separately, Melchers said the Dutch were
contemplating approaching the Belarusians as EU President to
urge them to approve the presence of monitoring teams at the
upcoming elections in a "timely" fashion so as to facilitate
their presence.
RUSSEL