EU AND BELARUS REACH MEAGRE AGREEMENT ON ENVOYS.

The high drama of the departure of EU Ambassadors from the Belarus capital, Minsk, in July this year, after they were thrown out of their official residences by the Belarus authorities, has degenerated into crude farce with an agreement painfully reached by both sides in the first weeks of December. A joint declaration from the EU Presidency and the Belarus Minister of Foreign Affairs sets out an uneasy truce which will allow for the return of EU Ambassadors - but not to their former residences.

The Ambassadors were forced out because the Belarus President wanted to take over the Drozdy area where they were situated, for his own official residence. EU ambassadors withdrew en bloc in protest at...