Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-06-13-Speech-4-197"

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"en.20020613.8.4-197"2
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"Mr President, Belarus is the only one of the countries bordering on the enlarged European Union with which we cannot have normal relations, and President Lukashenko has set at nought all democratic rules since the day he took office. Parliamentary and presidential elections served only to prop up his autocratic regime and give it the outward appearance of legitimacy. After he abrogated the democratic constitution in 1996, the OSCE sent a mission of observers to the country with the aim of re-establishing dialogue and helping to restore the foundations of a democratic order. Its task was an unambitious one, but even that was too much for President Lukashenko. Parliament, the Commission and the Council worked closely together with the OSCE mission, and the experience increased our regard for its achievements, as repeated attempts were made, in a situation with few – if any – prospects, to set up dialogue, even if only a tenuous one, to at least work towards the minimum criteria we had established, and to find a way to restore normal relations. Yet even that was too much for Mr Lukashenko, who made it unmistakably clear, in a major speech last month, that he wants no more OSCE missions in the country once the presidential elections are over. It is simply not as if we are dealing here with a country that is not a member of the OSCE and has not acknowledged its rules; on the contrary, he himself subscribed to the OSCE rules and democratic standards. This has not stopped him putting the media out of action, meaning that any dissident is at his mercy. I believe that we must protest vigorously about this, and it is clear that normal relations with the European Union will not be possible if dialogue on the basis of the OSCE mission is not begun."@en1

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