Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-01-14-Speech-3-458"
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"en.20090114.21.3-458"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, President-in-Office, the main occasion for today’s debate is the first half of the six-month suspension of sanctions against Belarus, which happens to be this week. Our half-way review of relations between that country and the European Union has been received with positive caution by this House, with appreciation for the changes that have taken place in Belarus.
Above all we would like to express our satisfaction that the ‘For Freedom’ movement led by Aleksander Milinkievich has been legalised, and that the independent newspapers
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have been legalised and allowed into the state distribution system. At the same time, however, we still condemn the fact political prisoners freed over the past years have not had their full rights restored, and one protesting student was unlawfully arrested during his pre-trial period.
We would like to stress that essential conditions for permanently lifting and normalising European Union-Belarus relations are changes in electoral law, repeal of the restrictive media laws and changes to the criminal code to prevent its abuse against the democratic opposition and independent journalists. In this context we would encourage the authorities in Belarus to work in close cooperation with the OSCE and the Belarus Journalists’ Association. We appreciate the preliminary meetings that have been held regarding both these matters, but we urge permanent cooperation with foreign experts and representatives of civil society in Belarus.
In the resolution being debated today we also intend to urge the Belarus authorities to lift restrictions on the activities of political parties, non-governmental organisations and to legalise more independent media. This, however, will not be a one-way street. We also call upon the European Commission and the Council to be quicker in reducing the price of EU entry visas and to increase investments by the European Investment Bank in energy infrastructure, particularly transit infrastructure, in Belarus. I would like to stress that the European Parliament will again urge the Commission to secure financial support for Biełsat TV, and the authorities in Belarus to recognise the Union of Poles in Belarus headed by Angelika Borys as the only lawful representative of the country’s largest ethnic minority."@en1
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