Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-02-11-Speech-2-064"
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"en.20030211.4.2-064"2
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"I compliment Mr Marset Campos, particularly on the way in which he maintained a consistent line in the report, a line consistent with all Parliament's statements and actions over the past few years. Anyone who reads the report as it has been adopted in the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security and Defence Policy will find it hard to imagine that it is about a European country that will be a neighbouring state from next May. The mark on its report card is quite plainly devastating. Despite all the efforts in that regard, including on the part of the European Parliament via the parliamentary troika with the OSCE and the Council of Europe, the situation for democracy has not improved at all since 1997. In fact you could say that the reverse has been the case.
The most important conclusion must therefore be that there is no reason to change the policy of more or less frozen relations with the current regime as long as President Lukashenko continues his policy of isolation. This is most deplorable as far as the 10 million inhabitants of that country are concerned, for they deserve better. The politics of that country stand in the way of improvements in relations and are therefore also hindering the desired cooperation in numerous areas, including in the humanitarian sphere. Until such time as President Lukashenko takes a significant step towards greater democracy, it will not be possible for the European Union to implement a positive policy. That is a shame, because this is something we need to do, not least on account of our future borders with the country.
The European Union must, however, continue to support alternative forces in Belarus, such as the independent media as well as the third sector and what we call civil society. Without internal dynamics there, without an internal democratic movement, the situation is not going to change in the near future. Help for the victims of Chernobyl must also be improved. We have already discussed in this Parliament the provision of additional support for cancer hospitals in Belarus in the context of the Budget.
Mr Marset Campos’ report also includes an implicit call to the Russian Federation to be more concerned about the democratic credentials of the regime in Belarus. More than once I have watched the Russians congratulate President Lukashenko on an election result after the entire Council of Europe and the EU had rejected it. This is of course unacceptable. This is the kind of contradiction that will get us nowhere. Do the Russians actually intend to create a union with a country whose leadership has such a poor reputation with the European Union and the other European organisations? I therefore ask the Council and the Commission in particular to be more emphatic about this point in consultations with the Russian Federation. The joint economic and political pressure exerted by the European Union and Russia and the need for greater internal dynamics which I have already referred to will ultimately turn out to be deciding factors. Pressure from outside and pressure from within, and especially with some emphasis on the economic element. It is to be hoped that this concept will be reflected in the coming communication about an enlarged Europe. In the meantime, we must make do with the channel that we ourselves helped to create, the parliamentary troika, in order to maintain a minimal dialogue with the country. It does, however, remain depressing and very frustrating."@en1
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