OREANDA-NEWS. July 17, 2008.  The European Union should not extend politically charged issues to the area of visa pricing for ordinary Belarusians, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of Belarus Andrei Popov told media commenting on the EU statement that “until Belarus and the EU sign an agreement on cooperation and partnership in line with the European good neighborliness policy, the prices and procedures of getting Schengen visas for Belarusians will not change.”

“The settlement of the visa issue could serve the best proof that the EU is really willing to cooperate with Belarus for the common good of the Belarusian people. After all, the recent joining of the neighboring countries to the Schengen agreement affected the ordinary Belarusians in the first place,” Andrei Popov said.

“Judging from the numerous instances when the Belarusian people asked the Foreign Ministry for help, they encounter serious difficulties while seeking to get visas in many EU embassies in Minsk. As a result, whatever the EU representatives might say, the Belarusians are limited in their plans to see Europe. This is why we have grounds to say that the right of our citizens for the freedom of movement is violated in defiance of the OSCE treaties,” he added.

Andrei Popov said that Belarus repeatedly asked the European Union to hold talks in order to simplify the visa formalities.

“We keep thinking that this issue belongs to the area of practical relations between the countries, not the political area. We are repeating that we are ready to work with the EU to settle this issue,” Andrei Popov concluded.