Jan Wiersma: “I don’t believe Lukashenka can become a democrat”

MEP Jan Marinus Wiersma, vice-president of the Socialist Group, believes that the Belarusian dictator can’t be invited for the EU summit in Prague. He must fulfil EU recommendations first.

The Dutch politician commented Radio Svaboda on the calling off the MEPs’ visit to Belarus scheduled for the next week.

– What was the main reason for refusal of the Belarusian side to accept a delegation of the European Parliament in Minsk on April 6–8? Was this caused by your refusal to have an official meeting with members of the “national assembly” of Belarus?

– Your assumption is right. We offered a program of meetings with representatives of the Belarusian opposition and Belarusian government. We also wanted to meet foreign minister Syarhei Martynau. We offered an unofficial meeting with members of the Belarusian “parliament”. But this was unacceptable for the Belarusian authorities. We were said if we didn’t want to have an official meeting with the Belarusian parliamentarians, the authorities were not ready to accept the delegation at a higher level in Minsk. For example, we can’t count on a meeting with the foreign minister.

We couldn’t agree to these conditions, because we didn’t want to find ourselves in a situation when some media could say we recognize the Belarusian “parliament”. We were a part of an observing mission that was monitoring the latest “parliamentary elections” in Belarus. We know that the elections were neither fair nor free.

– Belarus has been invited to take part in the Eastern Partnership program. The European Union is now considering whether the Belarusian ruler should be invited for a summit on May 7, launching the program. Your country, the Netherlands, stands against invitation of Alyaksandr Lukashenka. If you took a decision, would you invite Lukashenka for the summit, or limit participation of Belarus at the summit to a level of a foreign minister?

– First of all, I am very sceptical about including Belarus in the “Eastern partnership program. I think that Brussels doesn’t fully understand the character of this regime. I have 10-year experience of relations with Belarus. I don’t believe Lukashenka can become a democrat. Belarus must certainly be invited, but under certain conditions. In my view, when we speak about human rights problems in Belarus, we should discuss them both with officials and with opposition representatives. Secondly, in my view it’s too early to invite Lukashenka for Prague summit. In this regard I support the position of my government.

– Your name is often mentioned in the context of EU-Belarus relations. Tell, please, about your personal interest in Belarusian affaires.

– In 1999, I was appointed head of the EP delegation for relations with Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova. There was another delegation for these three countries. I was more interested in relations outside the EU, EU-Russia relations. So, I was more interested in Belarus and supported democracy in Belarus. For me, Belarus is a country that has European, sometimes very tragic history. There are 10 million people in Belarus. They are Europeans, like me, a Dutchman, and they have the right to a decent life and own choice. This is one of the reasons of my interest.