The 8th session of the Belarus-EU coordination group took place in Brussels on 17-18 December. The EU delegation reaffirmed its commitment to promoting cooperation with Belarus. One of the key issues on the agenda were the visa facilitation and readmission agreements. Belarus and the EU discussed the final steps needed to sign and enact the agreements.

The EU recalled that the Schengen visa fee will increase to €80 starting from 2 February 2020. However, after the visa facilitation agreement comes into force, the visa fee for Belarusian nationals will drop to €35. The visa rules will be relaxed in a number of other ways, too.

The Belarus-EU coordination group first convened in April 2016. This group was set up to maintain a meaningful dialogue across the entire agenda of the Belarus-EU relations. The group sits once in six months. Its meetings are attended by representatives of the European Commission, the European External Action Service, and Belarus' government agencies.

A reminder, the Council of the European Union approved a decision to sign the visa facilitation agreement with Belarus. In September, Belarus completed the domestic procedures on the visa facilitation and readmission agreements with the European Union. The head of state made a decision to sign the visa facilitation and readmission agreements with the EU. This step was preceded by a long negotiating process with the European Union, which resulted in mutually acceptable texts of the agreements.