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                   EU Appears Ready to Ease Belarus Sanctions

   by Reuters

   Belarus' election fell short of democratic standards, monitors said
   Monday after President Alexander Lukashenko won a fifth term, but
   Europe still looked set to ease sanctions as France and Germany
   welcomed a lack of political repression.

   Moves by Lukashenko, including the pardoning of six opposition figures
   before the election, suggested he could be seeking to improve his image
   abroad to be able to rely less on Russia, a Belarus ally that is under
   Western sanctions because of the Ukraine conflict.

   "It is clear that Belarus still has a long way to go towards fulfilling
   its democratic commitments," Kent Hasted, head of the Organization for
   Security and Cooperation in Europe's observer mission for the election,
   said in a statement. "The recent release of political prisoners and a
   welcoming approach to observers were positive developments. However,
   the hope that this gave us for broader electoral progress was largely
   unfulfilled."

   Hasted expressed particular disappointment about shortcomings during
   the tabulation of votes.

   Lukashenko said Sunday that Belarus had fulfilled all commitments for
   free and fair elections. He won with 83.5 percent of the vote.

   Still, the European Union is expected to suspend its sanctions on
   Lukashenko and his supporters later this month in response to the
   freeing of six political prisoners in August, a long-held demand of the
   28-nation bloc.

   Even if the elections were not seen as democratic by the OSCE, the
   European Union was initially braced for worse -- namely, the kind of
   crackdowns that have followed Belarus' elections in 2010. The EU warned
   Lukashenko that sanctions relief would depend on a peaceful election,
   diplomats said.

   German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters at a
   meeting with his EU peers in Luxembourg that the apparent lack of
   repression against political groups opened the way for sanctions to be
   suspended for four months.

   "There have been changes in Belarus, compared to the two past
   elections," he said. "If Belarus stays on this path, there is a
   willingness -- and there is unanimity on this -- to change the
   relationships with Belarus," he said, referring to sanctions.

   France's minister for European affairs, Harlem Desir, echoed that,
   saying Paris also wanted to encourage any opening in Belarus, while
   also warning that any backsliding on human rights would mean sanctions
   being reimposed.

   Economic boost

   Diplomats say the EU's list of about 140 people in Belarus subject to
   sanctions will be suspended from the end of October until the end of
   February, allowing those in question to move their money around and
   travel again. An arms embargo will remain.

   However, the European Union will keep the sanctions under review. The
   suspensions could be allowed to expire if Belarus is seen as committing
   fresh rights abuses.

   Four members of Lukashenko's security services, suspected of being
   behind the disappearances of political opponents, will remain under
   sanctions.

   The lifting of restrictions would be a boost for Belarus' economy,
   which has been battered by a currency crisis in Russia, its key trading
   partner. It could also pave the way for increased foreign investment.

   Belarus' gross domestic product shrank by 3.5 percent in the
   January-August period, and the average monthly wage has fallen by about
   a third in dollar terms since the start of the year to $420.
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   belarus-sanctions/3002773.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/european-union-appears-ready-to-ease-belarus-sanctions/3002773.html