Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-04-05-Speech-3-185"
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"en.20060405.18.3-185"2
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".
Mr President, on behalf of my group, I too should like to extend a warm welcome to Mr Milinkevich, presidential candidate from Belarus, and, in fact, through him, to greet, and express my support to, the opposition and all dissidents in Belarus, particularly those who have been arrested and imprisoned.
It was already said two weeks ago that we cannot accept the outcome of the elections as the outcome of a free and democratic process. Paraphrasing what the Commissioner said, I should like to add that Lukashenko did not win, but the people in Belarus were the losers. That is an important conclusion to draw. We also have to establish that Lukashenko cannot claim democratic legitimacy and that is why it is a good thing that the European Union has taken visible action. By imposing a visa ban on him, we have given him the message that, as far as we are concerned, the sooner he goes, the better, and he can certainly not count on our recognition. We do not want to see him, or talk to him again. That is the first point I wanted to make. I agree to the visa ban being extended to include other authorities and personalities in Belarus. We must think carefully about how we can take this as far as we can, and we are awaiting suggestions from the Commission and Council to this effect.
We could also consider our options with regard to freezing assets in order to get to the governing elite in Belarus. It is important to establish here today that we must hold firm to all the conclusions we drew after the elections in Belarus. We must constantly follow the developments in that country. I was involved in Belarus for five years myself, as predecessor of Mr Klich and chairman of the delegation. Whilst the previous presidential elections were obviously rigged as well, attention for Belarus visibly dwindled after a couple of months. We owe it to each other, as an institution but also as Parliament, to continue to focus our attention on that country without any let-up.
I was pleased with the Commissioner’s remark about the dialogue with Moscow. I would also like to hear from Mr Winkler what his opinion is of the way in which we can add this item to the agenda in meetings with Russia, because – as I have already said – the congratulations by Mr Putin to Lukashenko were delivered incredibly promptly again.
It would be good, where further measures are concerned, to persuade the Commission and Council to think outside the box. What can we come up with, in addition to existing instruments, to promote contacts between people here and people there? For example, it is for us MEPs very difficult to travel to Belarus. What specific, creative measures can we take in order to establish this human contact, the practical support for people in Belarus in one way or another? I should like to finish off by saying that we must persevere and certainly not create the impression with Mr Milinkevich and his people that we will leave him in the lurch. We must persist and focus as much attention as we muster in this House."@en1
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