Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-10-08-Speech-3-119"
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"en.20081008.17.3-119"2
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"Madam President, the elections that have taken place in Belarus have already been reported on by the OSCE mission. They were neither transparent nor honest nor democratic. It is, however, a fact that political prisoners, at least the main ones, were released. Nevertheless, the reasons for which they were imprisoned have not been eliminated. We do not have complete certainty that in the near future either they (those temporarily released) or new prisoners will not be arrested in Belarus. We have to ensure that the causes are eliminated and not just the effects. It is also worth recalling, given the opportunity presented by this debate, that there are 14 other people in Belarus whose freedom is restricted by being condemned either to house arrest or to enforced labour for activities supporting human rights and freedom.
Our declaration is a very balanced one. On the one hand it expresses satisfaction at the release of the prisoners, while on the other it views the course and outcome of the elections with dissatisfaction. Meanwhile, in paragraph 12 Parliament agrees with the ‘step-by-step’ policy in future negotiations with Belarus and says that we may agree to a partial suspension of sanctions for a maximum of six months on condition that there are some very substantial changes, which would improve the situation above all for media freedom in Belarus. This is a good move, and I am a keen advocate of it, while at the same time I would like to appeal to both the French Presidency and the Czech Presidency, which will take over for the first half of next year, to ensure that whenever there are official meetings with representatives of the Belarusian authorities, time must also be found for meetings with representatives of the opposition. The will must also be found to reduce the cost of visas for Belarusians, because otherwise we shall not bring this nation closer to Europe.
As a Pole I would like to express my appreciation of the fact that Parliament decided to take note that the activities of the Polish minority in Belarus are restricted by the Belarusian authorities, and that there is a legally elected authority representing Poles, headed by Angelika Borys."@en1
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