European Parliament refuses to recognize Lukashenko as legitimate Belarusian president

2006-04-06 17:10

Minsk, 6 April. The European Parliament on April 6 voted overwhelmingly to adopt a resolution calling on the Belarusian authorities to conduct a new presidential election in compliance with international democratic standards.
The EP said that Aleksandr Lukashenko "cannot be recognized" as a legitimate president of Belarus. It noted that the Belarusian leader had secured his third term of office through a referendum that was not recognized by the international community. The EP cited a climate of fear during the presidential race, the harassment of campaign activists, the suppression of the independent media and "serious allegations" that "massive fraud took place in the counting of votes."
MEPs met the announcement of the results of the vote on the resolution with noisy applause, Bogdan Klich, chairman of the Delegation for Relations with Belarus, told BelaPAN. EP President Josep Borrel greeted Belarusian opposition leader Aleksandr Milinkevich, who was present at the vote, in his address to the gathering.
In the resolution, the EP described Belarus as "the last dictatorship in Europe" and expressed its solidarity with the country's opposition forces and all Belarusians "who strive for an independent, open and democratic Belarus based on the rule of law."
The EP welcomed the protests that had been staged in Minsk against Mr. Lukashenko's reelection and urged the Belarusian authorities to immediately release all jailed opposition activists.
It hailed a new visa ban against Belarusian officials, including Mr. Lukashenko, but called on the European Commission and the Council of Europe to expand the visa ban list and freeze the assets of those on the list.
The EP also called on the European Commission and the Council of Europe to redirect all forms of financial support for Mr. Lukashenko's government to non-governmental organizations and small and medium-sized enterprises; ease visa formalities for common Belarusians; fund educational programs for students expelled from Belarusian universities for political reasons; and "urgently raise the issue of Belarus with the Russian authorities so as to define a common responsibility for bringing about concrete democratic changes in that country, and to stop the political repression and human rights violations."
Both the cross-party and cross-member state nature of the MEPs' appeal shows that Belarus has become a truly international issue in Europe, EUobserver quoted an EU official as saying.
The European Union's Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighborhood Policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, reportedly promised that the European Commission would explore ways of relaxing visa formalities for Belarusian travelers by the end of the year.