Pro-Slavic activists from 11 countries demand abolishing EU visa ban on 36 Belarusian officials
- 4.02.2008, 9:40
The board of the International Slavic Committee adopted a statement demanding that the European Union should lift its entry ban against 36 Belarusian officials at a meeting held in Brest on February 1 and 2.
Participating in the meeting were delegates from 11 out the 14 countries represented on the Committee. There were not representatives of Croatia, Slovenia and Macedonia. Belarus was represented Syarhey Kastsyan, deputy chairman of the standing Committee on International Affairs and Relations within the CIS in the House of Representatives, and another member of the lower parliamentary chamber, Alyaksandr Shatsko.
The statement, which was initiated by the Czech Slavic Committee, says that the ban on the Belarusian government officials’ trips to EU countries, the United States and Canada is a crime that is committed against humanity and humankind,” Mr. Kastsyan, who chairs the Belarusian Slavic Committee, told BelaPAN.
If the EU fails to respond to the statement, “certain citizens of the European Union will be declared persona non grata on the territory of Slavic states in a retaliatory move,” Mr. Kastsyan stressed.
He also said that participants at the meeting in Brest discussed preparations for the 10th Pan-Slavic Congress, which is expected to take place in Kyiv, Ukraine, in October 2010.
The forum’s main report will deal with economic cooperation among Slavic countries, according to Mr. Kastsyan. He noted that apart from making political statements and establishing cultural ties, fostering economic cooperation will now be one of the main components of the International Slavic Committee’s activities.
“The establishment of an International Slavic Financial Bank would be one of specific steps toward the development of Slavic economic cooperation,” he said.
Since April 2006, the EU’s visa ban list has included Alyaksandr Lukashenka and 35 other people deemed responsible for rigging elections and cracking down on the opposition and civil society. Mr. Kastsyan is among them.
