Head of PACE delegation refutes BT: Decision to return special guest status for Belarus haven’t been adopted

Reinstatement of the special guest status of Belarus in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe depends on further progress of Belarus on the way towards democratisation, stated the head of the PACE delegation Göran Lindblad.

As the press-service of the PACE informed, after the four-day visit to Belarus Göran Lindblad noted that “any restoration of Special Guest status – if it was decided by the Assembly – should be temporary, and renewal will depend on Belarus making further progress towards democratisation”. Contrary to an announcement by the Belarus state TV channel, there has been no decision to restore Special Guest status. There is only a proposal, which could be discussed by the Assembly as early as its June session, he added.

At the same time, the rapporteur on Belarus of the PACE, Andrea Rigoni, has said he will propose restoring Special Guest status to a delegation from the country’s parliament – provided a mechanism can also be found to associate representatives of the extra-parliamentary opposition, the press-service of the PACE informs.

The PACE remained concerned about freedom of association and assembly, and said that progress in developing media freedom – despite some limited positive steps – was essential.

It pointed out that Belarus was the only country in Europe where capital punishment still exists, and said the response of the authorities to instituting a moratorium on executions – as a first step to abolishing the death penalty – had been disappointing.

Finally, the delegation said it was keen to see the opening in the very near future of a Council of Europe InfoPoint in Minsk, which should be a starting-point for engaging with the Belarusian public at large, the PACE representatives noted.

The Special Guest status was established by the PACE in the 1990ies with the aim to help countries in fulfilling conditions for becoming full members of the Council of Europe. It allows MPs without a right to vote to take part in the sessions of the Assembly. The Belarusian parliament had Special Guest status from 1992 till 1997. However, in 1997 it was suspended after the illegal referendum on the Constitution held in 1996. Soon after that the application of Belarus for joining the Council of Europe was put on ice. Belarus remains the only European country which does not belong to this organisation.