The European Union is holding its first high-level talks in four years with internationally isolated Belarus.

EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner says her meeting Monday with Foreign Minister Sergei Martynov could be seen as a reward after Belarus freed political prisoners.

Meanwhile the EU’s 27 foreign ministers are in Luxembourg discussing whether to lift a travel ban against the authoritarian regime of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana says he wants to remove both the political ban and the travel ban on senior Belarus officials.