Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-01-19-Speech-3-522-000"
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"en.20110119.25.3-522-000"2
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"Mr President, High Representative, the European Parliament resolution on which we will vote tomorrow should send a strong message to Belarusians, the whole of Europe and the world. There must at least be a return as soon as possible to the situation that existed prior to 19 December and combined efforts to ensure that Belarus follows the path towards democracy and strengthening human rights. The most important objective today is the release of political prisoners and a cessation of attacks against the opposition, non-governmental organisations and the free press. However, I agree with the High Representative that when we take a swing at the regime, we must not hit Belarusian citizens. We must calculate with millimetre accuracy whether we will harm Belarusians, as well as mutually beneficial ties with EU Member States in the fields of business, culture, education and tourism, which are essential for the opening up of Belarus in Europe.
The recent policy of dialogue with Belarus has borne some fruit: now almost half of all Belarusians are in favour of closer relations with the European Union. We must react to events in Minsk so that from next year, this figure would grow even more. That would be a tangibly painful reward for the organisers of 19 December. In conclusion, I would again like to mention the financial, visa-related Berlin wall, which unfortunately has grown between the European Union and its eastern neighbours, and which is most difficult to overcome in Belarus. It is high time to tear down that wall and make it possible for ordinary Ukrainians, Belarusians, Georgians and Russians to have access to and obtain visas to the European Union without any difficulty. Those millions of euro that are taken in incomprehensibly high visa fees really are not recouped because they deepen the chasms inherited from the past, this time between European Union Member States and their neighbours. It really should not be like this."@en1
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