MINSK, 17 May (BelTA) – The European Union hopes to sign a partnership priorities agreement with Belarus in June, BelTA learned from an informed source in the European Commission.
The signing of the document is still blocked by Lithuania who opposes the construction of the Belarusian nuclear power plant. According to the source, all the parties are interested in the construction of a safe nuclear power plant. However, the issue was additionally politicized in Lithuania in the light of the presidential campaign.
Belarus has held stress tests of the plant in line with the European methods and will soon present the national action plan based on the results of these stress tests. This will help increase the safety of the Belarusian nuclear power plant. According to the source, once this document is made public, the European Union will get more opportunities to defend the signing of the partnership priorities before the other EU member states. In other words, the EU hopes to convince Lithuania that Belarus is directly interested in the safety of its nuclear power plant, takes necessary measures to ensure it and listens to the recommendations.
Belarus and the European Union have also completed the main part of the talks on the visa facilitation and readmission agreements. The source from the European Commission added that the parties need to settle the technicalities regarding the signing procedure. In his words, once these issues are settled, the agreements will be signed.
