Belarusians Choose Europe

The campaign Belarusians Are Choosing Europe is continued at the Polish – Belarusian border.

Charter97.org has been informed about that by the press-service of the Belarusian House in Warsaw.

Today and yesterday at Lithuanian border crossing point Medininkai and Raigardas, as well as in Druskininkai and Vilnius, volunteers were giving Belarusians leaflets with information about advantages of European integration over the Customs Union.

By this move the Belarusian House in Warsaw continues the outreach campaign informing Belarusians about benefits of the European choice. Earlier leaflets were handed out at the Polish – Belarusian border – in Terespol, Sławatycze, Kuźnica and Bobrowniki. Volunteers have handed out about several thousands of leaflets, not only in queues, at border checkpoints, but at railway stations, markets and parking areas of shopping centres.

“The information in the promotional materials is simple and comprehensible, and figures could be compared easily, so that everyone could draw conclusions. The border is a new channel for work with the Belarusian society for us. We are observing that Belarusians take leaflets eagerly, they read them and even start discussions with volunteers, however, sometimes they get scared by journalists with microphones and cameras,” – said Ihar Kulei, the coordinator of the campaign. – The analytical part of the campaign had been elaborated by scientists’ team – economists and sociologists under the leadership of Leanid Zlotnikau.

The key objective was to carry out a comparison study, and to present in a simple and clear form, what the Belarusian nation could get from participation in this or that integration project. The results of the work are unambiguous: after joining the EU our neighbours, Lithuania and Poland, have made considerable progress, a leap forward. Belarus has chosen a different integration project, and as a result, the key figures of the population’s wellbeing are rather modest. It is felt by common Belarusians as well. Despite the total absence of public discussion on this topic in the state media space, according to opinion polls, the number of people in Belarusian society who would like to support the alternative European choice for Belarus is 40%, almost the same number supports the Eurasian integration and the Customs union.”

In addition to distribution of informational materials at border checkpoints in Lithuania and Poland in the framework of the campaign Belarusians Are Choosing Europe, a number of meetings in the regions of Belarus are planned. There experts are to hold more detailed presentations of information, collected by the scientific team. And soon 10 short animated videos, repeating the information in the booklets, are to be posted at the website of the Belarusian House.

The informational campaign is to last until Christmas.