Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-01-14-Speech-3-971"
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"en.20090114.21.3-971"2
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"Mr President, we have been talking lately of a political thaw in Belarus. Alexander Milinkievich’s opposition movement ‘For Freedom’ has finally been registered. Belarus has expressed willingness to participate in the Eastern Partnership. Even Washington has said that relations between the two countries have improved. Has the time come to warm relations and break the ice with Belarus? I wish we could, but we must remember that President Lukashenko is a sharp, hard-boiled political player.
We have already dealt with a ‘political thaw’ quite recently in Europe, and all I would like to point out is that these transformations have always resulted in disappointment.
What will be crucially important is how we play EU policy in the east in the coming months. Lukashenko has clearly stated that he will not bow to pressure from the West, and in negotiations with Medvedev on reducing gas prices, he declared that Belarus will not be indebted to Russia.
It is obvious that Belarus is playing on two fronts. We have to keep up cautious and considered negotiations so that we are not fooled by changes that may turn out to be temporary. We need to be firm on matters of strategic importance to the EU by conducting a targeted policy of support for the development of a civil society and an opposition in Belarus, where opposition activists are still being prosecuted and foreign clerics expelled. The EU cannot ignore the fact that the authorities in Belarus are continuing to violate citizens’ and human rights."@en1
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