Belarusian Ambassador to Belgium: “We are interested to participate in a dialogue under a condition – no conditions”
5- 2.04.2009, 9:20
During “A road map for Belarus” conference in the European Parliament, Belarusian Ambassador to Belgium stated that the dialogue with the European Union is possible only “without conditions”.
On March 31 in Brussels a conference called “A road map for Belarus” was held on the initiative of the three largest factions of the European Parliament. Among the topics of reports are changes in Belarus since October 2008, and prospects of development of relations between the European Union and Belarus, reports ucpb.org website.
Presence of the Belarusian Ambassador to Belgium Uladzimir Syanko at the conference hadn’t been planned. Attaché on culture was making notes of what was taking place at the conference. However, after the lunch break the Ambassador to Belgium, who is also the permanent representative to the EU and the NATO, came and voiced the position of the official Minsk.
Before he addressed the audience, the chairman of the United Civil Party Anatol Lyabedzka delivered a speech. He stated that he feels uncomfortable when representatives of the regime are not taking part in the discussion.
Uladzimir Syanko praised the representative of the European Commission Hugues Mingarelli for criticism of the isolation strategy and stated that “Minsk is not asking the European Union for cooperation”.
“We are interested in the dialogue under a condition of no conditions, when Belarus is an equal partner with equal rights,” he underlined.
“Ambassador Syanko on behalf of the Belarusian authorities demands equal rights in the dialogue with Brussels,” Anatol Lyabedzka said during the discussion. “But in such a situation a natural question arises: why demanding equality from Europe, Minsk is not guided by the same principle inside Belarus? Why the authorities deny a right for an equal dialogue without conditions to their political opponents? And how the statements like “the fifth column” and “enemies of the nation” contribute to establishing the dialogue?”
The Ambassador reacted to these words by saying: “My approach makes impossible participation of my fellow countrymen in a discussion outside Belarus”.
“It should be just added that it makes it impossible inside the country either,” Anatol Lyabedzka said.
