Dzmitry Halubnichy, Advisor, Belarusian Institute of Strategic Research
The European Commission has adopted a proposal for a COVID-19 macro-financial assistance package for its Eastern neighborhood partners to help the countries limit the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic.
As part of its global response to the coronavirus outbreak, the European Commission is mobilizing an emergency support package for Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova, and Ukraine of up to €80 million for immediate needs and up to €883 million for the short and medium term to support the social and economic recovery of the region. StrategEast has interviewed leading experts from Eastern Partnership countries to hear their take on the implications of EU support measures in each country. Here are the answers from the expert on Belarus.
Given the difficult history of the partnership between the Republic of Belarus and the EU, the development of this financial assistance solution will contribute to further normalization of Belarus-EU cooperation. This point is based on the well-grounded approach: future Belarus-EU cooperation lies in the fields that are less exposed to the risks of politicization.
This is evidenced by the development of the Eastern Partnership. Therefore, mutual efforts aimed at addressing the pandemic and its consequences are a potentially successful example of pursuing an inclusive and sustainable agenda. To this end, areas like healthcare, education, business, etc. could form a promising cluster of areas of cooperation free from political pressure and disputes and resilient to the effects of various partnership turbulences.
