Today, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya had an online meeting with Maciej Popowski, Director-General for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations of the European Commission (DG NEAR). A draft EU Comprehensive Plan for Belarus was presented at the meeting. Work on the project has been carried out in recent months in cooperation with Ms. Tsikhanouskaya’s team.
The plan envisages financial macro-planning for the Belarusian economy and support for political and economic reforms, including with the participation of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and other international financial institutions. Preparations for the implementation of the Plan included the possibility of holding events such as the Investors' Forum for a new Belarus and a donors' conference. A sine qua non of the plan is that it will be provided to democratic Belarus – not to the regime – during the transitional period and after the new free election.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya thanked the EU for developing the Plan, called for its early completion, and to announce the expected level of support. She also noted that it is important to act quickly so that Belarusians, who are under continuous repressions from Lukashenka, were already aware of the practical steps of the European Union at a time when democratic changes are taking place in Belarus.
The plan was supported by the Coordination Council, the National Anti-Crisis Management, and Veranika Tsapkala, who signed an appeal to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, calling for the publication of the Plan and for support for the holding of a high-level international conference to resolve the crisis in Belarus.
