PACE President Calls On Belarus To Come Closer To European Structures
The president of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly stressed that “European unity will also remain incomplete for as long as Belarus remains outside our common European home”.
While opening PACE`s spring session in Strasbourg on Monday, Rene van der Linden said that he had “sincerely hoped that the Assembly’s recent constructive approach, culminating in my visit to Minsk, would elicit a positive reaction from the Belarusian authorities.”
Rene van der Linden urged Minsk to “show your good will and show that you want to become at last a member of the European family,” BelaPAN reported.
Van der Linden said he is “not in favour” of Belarus’s isolation, adding that it is “very bad for both sides.” Van der Linden said that both Europe and Belarus should give “clear signs” of their readiness for cooperation. One of these signs, he continued, would be Minsk’s consent to the assessment of the question of political prisoners in Belarus by international experts. Van der Linden described as “absolutely unacceptable” the detention and the persecution of five members of Youth Front movement.
“We cannot ignore the arrest and detention of numerous opposition activists, seeking to exercise their right of peaceful demonstration on Freedom Day,” he said, referring to a demonstration staged by opposition forces in Minsk on March 25. “I believe that the Belarusian government will cease to imprison those who only express their opinions and take part in demonstrations. It would be a good sign of the readiness for the cooperation,” Van der Linden said.
“Nevertheless, it is still my hope that we will soon be able to welcome in our midst a Belarus that has committed itself to democratic reform,” the PACE president concluded.
The Council of Europe is not at all seeking to isolate Belarus, Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe’s subcommittee for Belarus Andreas Herkel (Estonia) also confirmed on Tuesday. It is more likely a question of Belarusian self-isolation, he said at a news conference on the sidelines of PACE session that discusses the Belarus democratization strategy.
In the opinion of Herkel, it is necessary to create conditions for efficient dialog to this effect with the Belarusian leadership.
Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus on Thursday also spoke against the international isolation of Belarus. "For us, it is important that Belarus is not separated from Europe because of its government's actions," he said in his annual address to the Lithuanian legislature. "We must spare no economic or institutional effort to help establish security and stability in Eastern neighboring regions. It will notably reduce potential threats to the people of Lithuania, its statehood and economy," he went on to say.
Valdas Adamkus stressed that Lithuania continued "to pursue the historic mission of a country connecting rich and similar cultures of Eastern and Western civilizations – their unity and diversity respected as a great asset."
Representatives of the Belarusian opposition – Alexander Milinkevich and Anatoly Lebedko – are attending the PACE discussion.
Milinkevich expressed hope that the Council of Europe will help to promote European values and experience of democratic reforms in Belarus. Lebedko, in turn, voiced an opinion that the Council of Europe pays insufficient attention to the problem of Belarus. He proposed to hold a conference and a roundtable discussion on the Belarus issue in Strasbourg. “We think it wise to invite Belarusian representatives of different views to such discussions,” Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs Konstantin Kosachyov told Itar-Tass, adding, “Our opinion was neglected.”
“As for me, this fact will not make the discussion multifaceted,” he said. “It would be a mistake for such a respected organization, as the Council of Europe, to stake on opposition only,” the official said. “We should learn to cooperate with the acting authorities, even if we do not agree with them in some spheres,” Kosachev said.
Meanwhile, the Belarusian authorities also voiced their willingness not to stay aside the potential  discussion. Dialogue between the Council of Europe and Belarus should be held on a balanced basis and with due regard for the views and stance of the Belarusian authorities, Andrey Popov, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, said in a press statement issued on April 18.
“At the present moment we are establishing pragmatic relations with the Council of Europe with regard to all the elements that are of mutual interest at both the parliamentary level and the level of the CoE Committee of Ministries,” the spokesman said.