Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-09-28-Speech-3-372"
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"en.20050928.26.3-372"2
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".
Mr President, I thank you for your substantive and serious interventions in this debate concerning Belarus and the state of its democracy and human rights. I take note of the points raised and will pass them on so that we can digest them seriously.
I would also like to thank you for your support for the Commission's work, including the opening of the Commission office in Minsk. As Mr Onyszkiewicz said, we cannot fail Belarus; we cannot ignore it. I agree with the various speakers who are very concerned about the road Belarus is still taking.
I am also very concerned about the lack of focus on a strategic interest of Europe, something which is all too common today. We should not, in our ongoing existential reflection, neglect the question as to how we can best enhance a stable zone of liberty and democracy in our south-eastern and eastern neighbourhood, be it for instance Turkey or the Western Balkans, Ukraine or Belarus. This implies, inter alia, that we use to the maximum and further develop the policy tools that are available under the European neighbourhood policy.
There were some specific questions addressed to the Commissioner, and as I have said, I have passed them on to our services. However, I would like to make a point concerning the language question. Why do we support broadcasting in both Russian and Belarussian? There is one simple fact which we have to take into account: 65% of the Belarussian population speaks Russian at home, while 5% speak Belarussian at home. In order to get our message across, we have to take into account the fact that the majority of the Belarussian population speaks Russian at home. This is precisely why we have opted for broadcasting in both languages, Russian and Belarussian: Russian for pragmatic reasons – that is what most people speak every day; Belarussian for symbolic reasons – this is the language that heralds a new free Belarus, which we are all in favour of.
The voice of the European Parliament and its support for our initiative adds tremendous weight to the European Union's efforts to push for greater democratisation and respect for human rights in Belarus. This has never been more essential than today, in the run-up to the elections, which if fairly conducted could be a turning point in the country's destiny."@en1
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