Kozik nominated Milinkevich as coordinator from Belarus

The head of pro-regime trade unions has come forward with such an initiative the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum in Brussels.

We remind that the first session of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum took place on November 16-17 in Brussels. The conference was organized by Sweden, the EU presiding country, the European Commission and the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). About 240 public associations from 6 partner countries: Belarus, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine were taking part in the meeting. Among them are NGOs, associations of employers and trade unions. Representatives of 27 organisations from Belarus were invited.

Details about the Forum were told to charter97.org by the representative of Charter’97 and the civil campaign “European Belarus” Uladzimir Kobets.

“The result of the Forum’s work was adoption of the final document which is to be presented on December 8 this year to the Council of Ministers of the European Union for practical implementation. I would like to note that the key moments reflected in the document were the demand of the Forum to release political prisoners on the countries of the Eastern Partnership, to give freedom to mass media, including freedom to access the Internet, to democratize electoral code and hold free elections. Besides, the final document contains an offer to annul visa regime for citizens of the Eastern Partnership, to work out a road map for every country, and before that introduce free multiple Schengen visas,” the democratic activists said.

As said by Uladzimir Kobets, the position of “European Belarus” civil campaign stated at the forum contributed to adoption of the final document in such a format.

“We have disseminated a statement about the situation in Belarus, which has shaped since the moment Belarus joined the Eastern Partnership. The document stated that the situation in Belarus in terms of democracy hasn’t improved in any aspect,” the activist of “European Belarus” said.

To his mind, electing a representative of Belarus Syarhei Matskevich the Speaker of the Forum was a sign of solidarity of other delegations from other countries. It was he who handed in the final document to the European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy Benita Ferrero-Waldner and Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt.

Uladzimir Kobets noted that 27 organisations from Belarus have taken part in the forum; however some people represented organisations unknown to anybody.

“Frankly speaking, I saw many of them for the first time, and do not know about their activities in Belarus. It concerns the issue of the Forum participants. The time will tell how all these people will work. By the way, it was surprising that the chairman of the official Trade Unions Federation of Belarus Leanid Kozik nominated Alyaksandr Milinkevich as a coordinator of the Civil Society Forum as a representative of Belarus. But this proposal wasn’t supported,” the activist said.

However, “European Belarus” activist notes that in reality the Civil Society Forum is an outstanding and landmark event.

“The fact that civil society representatives from 6 post-Soviet countries have received an opportunity to discuss urgent problems of their countries in the capital of the European Union, Brussels, in the framework of the Eastern Partnership program, gives hope that the program won’t remain a dry document for the national and European bureaucracy, but would do good for common people,” Uladzimir Kobets stated.