EU MAKES BELARUS AN OFFER, AWAITING RESPONSE

C O N F I D E N T I A L KYIV 004466 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT ALSO FOR EUR/UMB AND EUR/ERA E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/05/2016 TAGS: PREL KDEM PHUM EAID EUN BO UP SUBJECT: EU MAKES BELARUS AN OFFER, AWAITING RESPONSE Classified By: Political Counselor Kent Logsdon for reasons 1.4(b,d) ¶1. (C) Summary: EU European Commission official Jean-Eric Holzapfel told us December 4 that the initial Belarusan government reaction was noncommittal to the November 21 delivery of an EU non-paper stating its readiness to assist Belarus if the government implemented democratic reforms. The timing of a follow-up EU Troika visit on the offer was in doubt after initial plans to visit during the week of December 4 had been scrubbed due to conflicts with the OSCE ministerial. Regardless of Minsk's response to the offer, the EU had succeeded in one area -- communicating to the Belarusan people its willingness to help Belarus. End summary. ¶2. (U) We met December 4 with the EC's Jean-Eric Holzapfel, a French citizen whose business card describes him as "Coordinator of Relations with the Republic of Belarus," to obtain a read-out of European Commission Head of Delegation Ian Boag's November 20-21 visit to Minsk. (While based in Kyiv, Boag is dually accredited to Belarus.) As reported by the media and the EC's press release, the EU transmitted a document both in Minsk and Brussels "setting out what the EU could bring to Belarus, were Belarus to engage in democratization and respect for human rights and rule of law." Holzapfel told us Boag visited Minsk expressly to present the non-paper, entitled "What the European Union Could Bring to Belarus," to Belarusan government officials. ¶3. (SBU) Holzapfel said Boag and the Charges d'Affaires of the German and Slovak Embassies in Minsk, representing the EU Troika, met with new Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Yevdochenko and then Boag met alone with the head of the Presidential Administration Foreign Policy Department, Maxim Vladimirovich Reznikov, to pass the non-paper. (Note: The full text of the non-paper and the press release can be found in the European Commission section of the EU website.) Boag had also held a press conference while in Minsk and met with NGO representatives to brief them on the EU effort. ¶4. (C) Holzapfel observed the Belarusan officials had only a few days to digest the contents of the non-paper, so their initial reaction was noncommittal. A follow-up EU Troika visit had initially been planned for the week of December 4, but the unavailability of the appropriate officials due to the OSCE Ministerial had forced cancellation of the plans. The EU was considering its options. The Finnish presidency very much wanted the visit to occur during its tenure, but the time remaining before the end of the year was limited. If the visit slipped to the German presidency, the timing of the trip would be complicated by the onset of the Belarusan local elections (in January). ¶5. (C) In the meantime, Holzapfel commented, he and his colleagues were gauging the Belarusan reaction as conveyed in the media. Belarus Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Popov had sounded a skeptical and cool note, characterizing the EU offer as "nothing new" and an EU attempt to "impose some incomprehensible and abstract declaration." Popov had also charged that the EU was attempting to impose "real economic sanctions against Belarus, which will affect the concrete and vital interests of ordinary Belarusans" and noted the imminent increase in Schengen visa charges for Belarusan travel to the EU. On the other hand, Presidential Administration deputy Natalya Petkevich on November 26 had indicated Belarusan readiness to begin consultations, adding that "Belarus is "ready for dialogue with the European Union, the United States, and any other country in the world, but on the basis of equality and mutual respect." Holzapfel noted her comments might be significant since rumor had it that Petkevich was Belarusan President Lukashenko's mistress. In the end, the Belarusans might condition their response on the EU decision regarding suspension of Generalized System of (trade) Preferences (GSP),a decision that the EU was to take up in Brussels December 5. ¶6. (C) Whatever the outcome, Holzapfel said the EU had wanted to send a message to the Belarusan people that the EU was ready to engage with Belarus if the government took the appropriate steps to institute democratic reforms. He had held a regional press conference in Brest November 29 to reinforce this message. We noted that any news was better than no news when Holzapfel said Belarusan national TV had broadcast a report critical of the EU offer on November 26. ¶7. (U) Visit Embassy Kyiv's classified website: www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/kiev. Gwaltney