The presidents of Poland, Lithuania and Romania are appealing to the international community to join the European Union and its member states in preparing a program for Belarus which would include support for political, economic and social changes.
Polish President Andrzej Duda and his Lithuanian counterpart, Gitanas Nauseda, and Romanian counterpart, Klaus Iohannis, presented the proposal in response to what they allege was a rigged and unfair election which saw Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko receive almost 80 percent of the vote last month.
The leaders urged the European Union to expand its package of support for Belarus’s democratic economic transformation.
The presidents believe that the package should concern facilitating trade with the EU, assistance in access negotiations with the World Trade Organization and the introduction of visa-free movement into the EU. Poland recently promoted a similar package for Belarus under the condition that the country conducted free and fair elections.
The presidents also offered to help Belarus to diversify its energy sector, access to financial resources for restructuring and modernizing the country, as well as increased support from financial institutions in helping reform the Belarusian economy.
