In an interview with RFE/RL's Christian Caryl, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski describes the issues that Poland intends to highlight during its tenure as president of the Council of the European Council.
RFE/RL: In that context, what about the EU Eastern Partnership program in which Poland has played such an important role in the past. "The Economist" recently wrote that "the miasma of failure" is hanging over it -- particularly with reference to Belarus, where Lukashenka seems to be firmly in the saddle. What can Poland do as EU president to give the Eastern Partnership new life?
Berlin - For 15 years, German foreign ministers have steered clear of Belarus, the only major entity left on the European continent with a thoroughly authoritarian system of government. This week, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle will make a stopover in Minsk to urge President Alyaksandr Lukashenka to play by the democratic rules in the former Soviet republic's upcoming presidential election.
After two decades in the shadows, Belarus is expected to throw open its doors to large-scale international investment this year. Numerous privatisations and M&A deals, involving international as well as domestic investors, are on the cards as the country restarts its stalled reform programme.