The idea for the project entitled ‘A European Choice for Belarus’ under which the present publication was produced first emerged when it became clear that the economic liberalisation promised by Alyaksandr Lukashenka during his cam paign for the Belarusian presidency in 2001 will not occur anytime soon. Although a certain stabilisation was observed in the Belarusian economy, a number of negative tendencies remained: increasing costs of living, pauperisation of large sections of the Belarusian society, snowballing debt of state-owned enterprises, etc. The authoritarian regime adopted a harder line in its policies, and public opinion polls were indicating that President Lukashenka’s popularity is falling. These various factors have led us to once again take up the issue of reforms in Belarus.

 

ISBN 83-89406-06-3