EP President and Council of Europe’s Secretary General met with Belarusian democrats

Leader of the United Civil Party Anatol Lyabedzka and former presidential candidate Alyaksandr Kazulin had a number of meetings with leadership of the European Parliament and Council of Europe in Strasbourg on March 11.

The opposition politicians presented their views on the situation in Belarus. UCP head Anatol Lyabedzka told this Deutsche Welle.

“We have had many meetings. I’d like to turn attention to our conversation with President of the European Parliament Hans-Gert Pöttering. The main theme of the talks was a situation in Belarus, a dialogue between Brussels and Minsk, possible invitation of Lukashenka for the EU summit on the Eastern Partnership program in Prague, and a resolution on Belarus, which is to be taken by the EP in early April,” he tells.

“Much of the things we told Mr Pöttering were new for him, I mean new political prisoners in Belarus, our estimations of the recent visit to Minsk of EU Foreign Policy Representative Javier Solana. The EP speaker was surprised to learn that representatives of the democratic forces support the EU-Belarus dialogue but criticise the way it is being put into practice,” Lyabedzka said.

The politician noted that it was inefficient to support dialogue with Alyaksandr Lukashenka, because the Belarusian ruler wasn’t going to discuss questions of human rights and democracy.

“This is a dialogue without the opposition, without Belarusians, who support the European values, without discussion of human rights and democracy issues, which are unpleasant for Lukashenka. We find this strategy of the dialogue ineffective, it is a deadlock.

Our position is harsh – Lukashenka mustn’t go to Prague, because it will mean that in confrontation of two D – democracy and dictatorship, the latter has won. It will be remarkable if Lukashenka is invited to Prague for the 40th anniversary of the Prague Spring. Besides, on May 7, 10 years will have passed since former interior minister Yury Zakharanka, one of the opposition leader, was abducted,” the UCP leader noted.

According to Anatol Lyabedzka, speaker of the European Parliament decided to draw special attention to how human rights in Belarus are being observed.

“After our talks Mr Pöttering ordered his aides to prepare a strong resolution on Belarus, which would take into account all aspects and would help the EP to say what is more important – economic pragmatism or democracy. We think that the EP speaker upholds the view that democracy and human rights are of more importance,” he said.

Among other meetings with European officials in Strasbourg Anatol Lyabedzka points out a meeting with Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Council of Europe.

“We talked about prospects for relations between Belarus and the Council of Europe. According to Terry Davis, these prospects are problematic. On other words, the Council of Europe’s Secretary General said he didn’t see any grounds for Belarus to become a member of the Council of Europe.

It has become clear after the visit to Strasbourg that European politicians don’t hasten to solve a question on participation of Belarus in the Eastern Partnership program and on invitation of Lukashenka for the EU summit in Prague in favour of the authorities of the country,” Anatol Lyabedzka added.