MEPs set stage for lifting Belarus sanctions
PHILIPPA RUNNER
08.10.2008 @ 09:31 CET
The European Parliament is to give broad political backing for EU states to next week partly suspend Belarus sanctions. The Vienna-based pan-European security club, the OSCE, lent its support to the move in Minsk on Tuesday.
In a draft resolution agreed by the five largest political groups in parliament ahead of a plenary vote on Thursday (9 October), MEPs urge EU countries to "consider partly suspending sanctions for [certain] representatives of the authorities for six months, under the condition that during this time, the restrictive media law of June 2008 will be changed."
European Parliament officials: the resolution will make it easier for EU diplomats to lift sanctions (Photo: European Parliament)
The draft document - seen by Polish newswire PAP - suggests upholding a visa ban on any Belarus officials "directly involved in violating democratic standards and human rights," however. The text also says the Belarusian parliament has "dubious democratic legitimacy."
The MEPs' statement relates to a travel ban imposed on 40 Belarus officials and President Alexander Lukashenko between 2004 and 2006. The list covers about 25 security chiefs and electoral officials directly blamed for violent repression and election-rigging, as well as a mixed basket of parliamentarians, administrators and broadcasters.
The June 2008 media law re-classifies internet publications as "mass media," opening the door to new legal restrictions on the opposition's main channel of communication.
The MEPs appeal comes after Belarus released political prisoners in August in a bid to build better relations with the West as it seeks to avoid Russian pressure over 2009 gas prices and the prospect of being swallowed up in a future state union with its large neighbour.
OSCE blessing
Finnish foreign minister and OSCE chairperson-in-office Alexander Stubb made a similar appeal to lift sanctions after meeting President Lukashenko in Minsk on Tuesday.
"My message is clear. It's time to turn the page in Belarusian-European relations," he said, Reuters reports. "There is a clear mood that Belarus is moving in the right direction."
The Stubb endorsement carries extra weight following Belarussian parliamentary elections on 28 September, which the OSCE's own election-monitoring wing, the ODIHR, described as "falling short" of democratic standards.
"Surely no one can deny that there has been an improvement from the 2004 to the 2008 election," the OSCE chairperson said. The pair also talked about NGOs, the death penalty, freedom of assembly and ice hockey - the national sport of Finland and Belarus.
"If the European Union takes two steps, we will take five," President Lukashenko said, adding "We are ready to vote for you being a life-chairman of the OSCE for your words."
Gathering momentum
The Stubb visit was the latest in a line of high-level ministerial meetings between Belarus and EU states such as Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.
Belarussian foreign minister Sergei Martynov will also hold a separate "troika" meeting with EU foreign relations chiefs on the margins of an EU foreign ministers gathering in Brussels on 13 October.
The EU ministers will make the final decision on a possible rapprochement with the post-Soviet state and historical Russian ally. EU moves may also include cutting the costs of EU visas for ordinary Belarussians.