Belarus Facing Dual Enlargement: Will the EU Squeeze Harder?

EU and NATO eastern enlargement raises a host of difficult issues for Belanus, the solution of which requires enhanced cooperation and financial and technical assistance, first of all in the meeting of new security challenges, the modernization of the border infrastructure and preparing a multilateral package of readmission agreements. A positive change in relations between Belarus and the EU/NATO depends on Belanus´turn to democratic and market economic reforms. The dual enlargement has embraced also in OSCE and other European organizations, which promote institutional change by spreading common values, norms and practices. Paradoxically, Belarus relations with NATO have for some time looked better than those with the EU, even though they do not go beyond cooperation on "second-order" programs. Belarus has yet to accept the realities of the Post-Cold War settlement in Europe. It has remained the last European country in a "state of war" with the West, whereas its union partner Russia concluded a "peace treaty" with NATO by signing the 1997 Founding Act and moved further towards a strategic partnership by instituting the NATO-Russia Council in May 2002. Belarusian authorities should acknowledge that a military response to the NATO "threat" is pointless. EU enlargement is a more comprehensive challenge than NATO enlargement.