Against the background of the Presidential elections in Belarus, a lively discussion about the future prospects of Belarus together with the Lithuanian Ambassador to Germany, Deividas Matulionis, a Belarusian student group from the European Humanities University (EHU) in Vilnius and Dr. Wolfgang Sender, the Director of the Country Office Belarus of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung took place.

In 1992, the European Humanities University was founded as a private Belarusian University in Minsk. 2004, it was closed by the local regime because of the political reasons. As a consequence, it has moved to Lithuania the following year, where it continues to function as a university-in-exile. The students of this university keep track of the latest developments in their home country and are longing for a new political course in Belarus.

While everything suggests that the authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko will remain in power in the coming legislative period, the first changes in his style of ruling are nevertheless starting to show. It remains to be seen whether these changes are only a part of the strategic maneuver to bypass European sanctions, or whether this is a real change of his policy. It was only recently that Lukashenko has released six political prisoners submitting to the pressure from the European Union. The students evaluated this gesture as a positive sign and asked Dr. Wadephul whether a rapprochement of Belarus to Europe has therefore become more likely.

Dr. Wadephul assessed this political move of Belarus as a first step in the right direction. However he also stressed that this remains only a small gesture. Even though Belarus, according to Dr. Wadephul, belongs to Europe without a doubt, its membership in the European Union is at the time being not in sight. Belarus is lacking democratic reforms. Therefore, the inclusion of Belarus into the Council of Europe would be an important milestone. Europe's leading human rights organization has 47 members in total, including, among other countries Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Ukraine. Unfortunately, Belarus still plays in the position of an outsider when it comes to the protection of human rights.

According to the Belarusian students having participated in the discussion, their country is caught up in an identity crisis. To a large extent, the population is not able to speak their own language – only Russian. The children are not familiar with the Belarusian flag. In this context, Dr. Wolfgang Sender underlined that a strong political, cultural and economic ties which bind Belarus to Russia will not diminish in the near future. Although Belarus’ distrust in its closest ally increased in the wake of Ukraine conflict, it is nevertheless still significantly dependent on Russia. Dr. Wadephul added that every nation must find its own identity and no other state could or should guide it in this process. It is good to identify oneself with the homeland; nationalist tendencies are however harmful and indicate a weak state. Looking to the future, Dr. Wadephul hopes that Belarus will find a healthy middle ground in this matter.