Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-07-05-Speech-2-310"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20050705.32.2-310"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, Commissioner, this is in fact Parliament’s fourth resolution on Belarus. It is, however, the first to result from a deep sense of disillusionment with the Commission’s attitude. From Parliament’s point of view, the Council is an ally, and the Commission is the enemy, at least as far as a review of current policy on Belarus is concerned. The Council understands what is needed, whereas the Commission has no understanding whatsoever of how the existing instruments should be modified in order to support civil society and the process of democratic transformation in Belarus.
The message sent out by Javier Solana during his meeting with Condoleezza Rice in Vilnius on the democratic opposition in Belarus is important in political terms. At the same time, however, the Commission has fallen into a peculiar kind of vicious circle. It believes that change can be brought about in Belarus using existing political mechanisms and instruments. This is not the case. Change cannot be brought about in this way because these instruments are designed for democratic countries, or countries where the process of democratic transformation has already begun. It would be impossible to promote the start of democratic transformations in any country in the world by means of the instruments to which the Commissioner refers. If we were to try to do so, we would risk sacrificing the European Union’s political credibility, as well as running the risk that political declarations would in future no longer be followed by actions.
While all this is going on, presidential elections will take place in Belarus shortly, or in other words next year. We need to help the Belarussians make their choice. It is therefore enormously important that they are provided with reliable and independent information, mainly via radio stations. I would note that projects have been launched in Poland and Lithuania to establish independent radio stations. These projects were initially in competition with each other, but are now working together. It is for this reason that the resolution refers to a network of radio stations for Belarus.
The national governments have already lent their backing to these projects. They should also have the backing of the European Union, however, and current attitudes must change. The Commission has been considering the possibility of such backing for eight months already, and this cannot go on. This motion for a resolution is concerned with precisely this problem."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples