Brussels, 13/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - On 12 September, MEPs called on the Council of the EU, the European Commission and the European External Action Service to develop their political cooperation with Belarus, subjecting this cooperation to the prior condition that political prisoners be released and rehabilitated. The report by Justas Vincas Paleckis (S&D, Lithuania) does not, therefore, criticise Belarus, unlike most of the 30 or so reports adopted over the last five years, but sets out approaches for constructive relations between the EU and Belarus.
In its recommendations on the policy of the EU, the Parliament calls on the EU to seize the “ideal opportunity” that the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council and the Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius at the end of November represent, to improve relations with Minsk - as soon as the political prisoners are released - with a view to the resumption of political dialogue.
MEPs want the EU to take advantage of the suspension of the visa ban on the Belarusian minister for foreign affairs in order to broaden the channels of communication. In addition, they call for an “in-depth” assessment of the EU's sanctions, “with a view, if need be, to improving their effectiveness and to adapting their scope, their nature and their validity, so as to respond to developments in the country and in its relations with the European Union”. Parliament encourages dialogue with officials who were not personally involved in the repression, in order to strengthen EU-Belarus cooperation.
In the MEPs' opinion, civil society should be supported - particularly organisations defending human rights - and technical and financial support should be increased, including through the European Endowment for Democracy, to civil society organisations, independent NGOs, human rights supporters and unions.
It is also necessary for “all the strategic options available” to be envisaged so as to encourage Belarus inter alia to remove the obstacles and restrictions on freedom of association, of expression, of the media, of movement, of peaceful assembly and thought, to implement reforms for building an independent judiciary, to democratise the electoral code and to fight against the discrimination of minorities, the MEPs state.
The MEPs also want greater cooperation in the economic domain, including strengthened regional cooperation by way of Eastern Partnership sectoral initiatives, “in particular in the domains of trade, energy, the environment and transport”.
In addition, the Parliament wants progress in border management, with strengthened EU-Belarus cooperation on border management and the fight against cross-border crime, and the launching of a partnership for EU-Belarus mobility. (CG/transl.fl)