Brussels, 29/02/2000 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly have decided to join their efforts to encourage a political solution in Belarus. A Parliamentary Troika will visit Minsk on 2 and 3 March. It will be made up of Dutch Liberal Jan Wiersma (Chair of the Delegation for Relations with Belarus) and Pedro Marset Campos (GUE, Spain) for the EP, Terry Davis (Chair of the Committee on Political Affairs, Labour, UK) and Wolfgang Behrendt (Social Democrat, Germany) for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and Adrian Severin (Socialist, Romania) for the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.
The troika intends to encourage dialogue between the country's different political forces with a view to preparing next fall's elections and restoring democratic institutions, in accordance with internationally recognised principles. Its members will be holding bilateral meetings with opposition parties, representatives of civil society and the government, and academics. A joint meeting is planned after the bilateral meetings, with the objective of reaching agreement on the future negotiating agenda and timetable.