Belarusian MPs left outside Euronest again

Belarus will be represented by the opposition at a plenary session of the Eastern Partnership parliamentary assembly.

As charter97.org has learnt from Vital Rymasheuski, a co-head of the organising committee to found the Belarusian Christian Democracy party, representatives of opposition parties and organisations were invited to the third plenary session of Euronest, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Eastern Partnership  initiative.

The session takes place on May 28-29 in Brussels. Invitations were sent to the BPF party, the United Civil Party, the Belarusian Left Party Fair World, the Movement for Freedom, Tell the Truth campaign and the organising committee to found the Belarusian Christian Democracy party.

“The Belarusian authorities insist that members of the 'parliament' should represent our country in Euronest. The rest countries participating in the Eastern Partnership programme are represented by members of national parliaments. It seems impossible for Belarus until carrying out free elections. This is a common position of Belarusian opposition representatives. The European Parliament shares this view in spite of all efforts of Lukashenka's lobbyists. As far as I know, MPs were not invited to the third plenary session of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly,” Vital Rymasheuski said.

The politician noted that technical questions regarding Belarus-EU cooperation in the Eastern Partnership programme would be raised and the situation in the country, including the state of political prisoners, and the EU's possible steps for simplification of the visa regime with Belarus would be discussed.

Euronest is the parliamentary component of the Eastern Partnership programme launched in 2011. Members of the European Parliament and parliaments of the EaP participants – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine – take part in Euronest sessions. It was decided not to invite members of the Belarusian “parliament” due to the rigged “parliamentary elections”.