Katarina Maternava, Deputy Director General of the European Commission's Department for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, spoke about the financial support of the Belarusian civil society and the influence that Svetlana Tsikhanovskaya's office can have on the decisions of the European Union structures.

Briefly:

• We have practically no cooperation left with the authorities in Belarus, except for one small exception – a small program to fight against COVID-19.

• We are still ready to launch a program worth 3 billion euros for rapid economic recovery of Belarus.

  But for this, a necessary condition is necessary - democratic transformations.

• Since 2020, we have mobilized financial resources for Belarus for approximately 100 million euros.

  We will not reduce the amount of support.

• The priorities and general areas of our support are determined by us in Brussels.

  At the same time, we always conduct very extensive consultations.

• There is no direct contract or grant relationship between the European Commission and Tsikhanovskaya's offices.

"We have practically no cooperation left with the authorities in Belarus"

— What is the current level of communication between the European Union and the official authorities of Belarus?

Are there any areas where cooperation between them is still ongoing or still possible?

- Back in October 2020, we in the European Union adopted what was called "Conclusions on Belarus".

It was accepted by the European Council - the leaders of the countries then met to determine the response to the falsification of the presidential elections and the violence that unfolded in the wake of the elections.

As a result, we significantly reduced our support for the Belarusian authorities, both at the national and local levels.

We directed our financial assistance to non-state actors, including at the local and regional level.

At that time, we still had limited cooperation with the authorities - for example, in matters of the environment, nuclear safety, in some educational programs.

But after the Russian aggression against democratic Ukraine and the role of Belarus in this as a platform for an attack at the beginning of the war, we further revised the approach to work with Belarus.

As a result, we have practically no cooperation with the authorities in Belarus, except for one small exception - a small program to fight against COVID-19 and support health care.

This program has started and is not yet finished.

But there are no new programs, and all the others have been canceled or redirected.

"The situation has become worse"

- More than a year ago, you said that the European Union had prepared a plan for the democratization of Belarus.

Have you seen any changes for the better under this plan?

- Unfortunately, I can't say yes.

The situation became worse.

And as I mentioned in the previous answer, the war made things even worse.

We still support the people of Belarus.

We believe in the democratic future of Belarus.

And we are ready, if possible, to launch the program that we announced a year ago: a program for 3 billion euros, which provides financial support for rapid economic recovery, investments in key infrastructure, an aid package for carrying out structural reforms.

We are ready to do all this, but for this we need a prerequisite - democratic transformations in Belarus.

Unfortunately, we have no good news on this front.

"A total of about 100 million"

— And what is the current level of support of the European Union for the civil society of Belarus, including in exile?

And has this level changed in connection with the Russian invasion of Ukraine?

- I would say that from 2020, in my opinion, there was no other country in the world where we would provide such a level of support to representatives of civil society and the non-state sector.

This is a wide spectrum - civil society, independent media, students, entrepreneurs, cultural figures, representatives of various professions.

In total, since 2020, we have mobilized financial resources of approximately 100 million euros for such extensive support.

We did not discuss this with our colleagues, but I think that there is no other country where such a level of support would go to non-state actors, representatives of civil society, and so on.

This concerns the civil society both inside Belarus and outside the country.

It is difficult to say exactly how much goes where, but the total amount is about 100 million from various sources of financing.

— But has this support decreased in connection with Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the role of Belarus in this as a base for the Russians?

- Absolutely not.

Absolutely not.

Because, as I already mentioned, we cut the rest of the programs that we still had with the state, although it was very limited before that.

But this has not affected either the level or the type of assistance we provide to civil society.

By civil society, I mean a very wide circle - from culture to students, researchers, entrepreneurs and so on.

"The attitude of Belarusians to war is significantly different from this attitude in Russia"

- What do you think about the trend that appeared in some European countries after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, when not only the authorities, but also the citizens of Belarus and Russia are combined into one category?

In some EU countries, after the invasion, visa restrictions were introduced, in which citizens of Russia and Belarus were treated the same.

Do you think this is a fruitful approach?

— I think there are ongoing discussions about how effective visa bans are.

There are different views on whether entire societies should be punished.

And within the European Union itself, there are very different views on this.

I would even say that within the different institutions of the European Union, these views are also different.

But I would like to say one thing here - as far as we understand, the attitude of people in Belarus to the war is significantly different from this attitude in Russia.

Therefore, I personally would probably make a distinction.

But this question goes far beyond my competence, so I would not like to think about it here.

"We consulted not only with Tsikhanovskaya's office, but with all groups of the democratic opposition"

— Returning to the European Union's support of the Belarusian civil society (in Belarus itself and in exile), who determines the priorities of this assistance?

And does Svetlana Tikhonovskaya's office have an influence on these decisions?

— As for your first question, it works in such a way that we in Brussels determine the priorities and general spheres of our support together with our representatives, for example in Belarus or some other country.

As part of this program planning, we always consult very widely with many key stakeholders.

In our case, it is obviously the civil society itself, as well as political entities, international organizations, partners from individual countries of the European Union, other partners such as the USA, Canada, Great Britain and others.

At the beginning of this year, we conducted a multilateral needs assessment for the period from 2022 to 2024 in order to prepare a more predictable structure for supporting Belarusian civil society in a broad sense.

And in this context, of course, we consulted with Svetlana Tikhanovskaya's office, with her team, but also with all groups of the democratic opposition in Belarus, when we were developing this plan.

- If someone in Belarus is listening or watching us, who organizes initiatives inside the country, how can they contact you in some safe way to get help from the European Union?

- Listen, since we are talking on an open channel, I would like to say in such a discussion that there is no safe way.

Obviously, you will understand that I will not mention names, names of organizations, websites and phone numbers.

But I can say that we work through the network of our partners, who have different ways of contacting people both inside Belarus and outside Belarus.

And they really work diligently to provide the widest possible access.

But I would like to limit myself to these words.

- That is, you would say that these people cannot safely contact you directly, for example through some European Union website, to ask for help?

- No.

"Tikhonovskaya's office does not receive money directly from the European Commission"

- Are there independent control mechanisms for this financial assistance?

How do you monitor whether the money is used appropriately in the current situation, when it is difficult to follow what is happening in Belarus?

- Undoubtedly, there are control mechanisms.

There is a whole series of contractual obligations with our partner organizations.

Control takes place regularly.

One of the things that the European Union is famous for is precisely its reputation as an organization where everything is controlled at full capacity.

Therefore, our partners often have quite heavy obligations.

And this is one of the reasons why we choose partner organizations that are able to fulfill our requirements and not transfer this burden to smaller and more vulnerable civil society organizations - and this applies not only to Belarus, but also to other countries.

There is an element of training and assistance to our program participants on how to meet the monitoring requirements.

And it happens very regularly.

— Again, this may be a delicate question, but does Svetlana Tikhonovskaya's office receive direct financial support from the European Union?

- They do not receive money directly from the European Commission.

We do not have a direct contract with the Office.

As far as the European Union is concerned, this is a very broad term.

I am sure that there are EU states and other international partners that support the Office.

There are channels of civil society support that also reach the new government in exile, the United Transitional Cabinet.

But there are no direct contracts or grant relations between the European Commission and Tsikhanovskaya's offices.

"We will not reduce the amount of support"

- You already said that you were preparing strategic plans until 2024.

Can you say, for example, about the next year, whether the support of the civil society of Belarus will increase, what will it be compared to the current level?

- I think that we will be able to support the current, very significant level of assistance, to maintain it.

We will not reduce the amount of support.

I already mentioned at the beginning of the conversation that the amount of 100 million euros for three years is very large in a comparative perspective, if we are talking only about the support of non-state, non-governmental entities.

And I am happy to say that we will be able to maintain it at this level next year.

— As a representative of the European Commission, what would you say to those Belarusians who are now under daily pressure in a situation where civil society in Belarus is being destroyed by the authorities?

- Keep working, keep faith, keep hope.

We are with you, and we not only hope, but also believe in a future democratic Belarus.

• Alyaksei Znatkevich

  Radio Svaboda journalist

  znatkevicha@rferl.org

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