The Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has decided to sign the visa facilitation and readmission agreements with the European Union, asserting that Belarus has completed all the domestic procedures for the signing to take place.

According to the press secretary of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry Anatoly Glaz the decision, taken after a thorough assessment of all possible risks and consequences, will be published today.

“The head of state has made a decision, which will be published today, on signing visa facilitation and readmission agreements with the European Union. This is not an easy decision. The president of Belarus had made it, realizing a high importance of mobility for Belarusian citizens, and only after a thorough assessment of all possible risks and consequences,” secretary Glaz said.

Glaz believes that this step is a result of a complicated and time-consuming negotiation process with the European Union, through which were developed the mutually accepted agreements that comprehensively include the interests of both sides. The EU-Belarus visa facilitation and readmission agreements will be concluded in a package, entering into force on the same day.

“We are currently waiting for the signal from our European partners about the completion of necessary procedures on their behalf. After that we will specify the modes of signing the agreements,” Anatoly Glaz said.

However, the procedures are not that simple. First, the European Parliament and the European Council must approve the document, and then the EU Council must make a decision by qualified majority.  After that, the National Assembly of Belarus must ratify both agreements, and then Minsk and Brussels can sign them.

Once the visa facilitation agreements come into force the Belarus citizens traveling to the Schengen territory will have to pay a visa fee of €35 instead of €60 as it is now. The Belarus officials have hoped that the signing would happen before the EU countries start applying the updated Schengen visa rules. Among others, the new rules include the increase of the Schengen visa fee from €60 to €80.

Belarus is one of the few remaining European countries, that still need a Schengen visa to enter the Schengen Area. The negotiations on visa facilitation for Belarus citizens have started on January 2014.