Will the National Platform reach out for the new level of activity?

On the eve of the Conference of the Belarusian National Platform for the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum, Belarusian political scientists have shared their expectations of the upcoming event with the information service of "EuroBelarus".

On the eve of the Conference of the Belarusian National Platform for the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum, Belarusian political scientists have shared their expectations of the upcoming event with the information service of "EuroBelarus".

Andrei Yahorau, director of the Center for European Transformation:

- The National Platform’s progress has been rather good recently; the Platform has strengthened as a platform for coordination and consolidation of the civil society activities. But inside the Platform there are a number of problems associated with the institutionalization stage, not fully passed through (forming of the National Platform membership, procedural mechanisms, elected bodies, which would coordinate the Platform’s activity). These issues must be addressed at the upcoming Conference.

Another important task is to define the strategies and concepts of the National Platform development. At present there are different opinions on how the Platform should develop. And I hope that these contradictions will be overcome in the course of the Conference. The dispute is about the format of the National Platform existence. Some participants believe that this platform is aimed only at coordination of the Eastern Partnership activities and the EU -Belarusian relations. Others, such as the International consortium "EuroBelarus", seek to expand the National Platform activities to the issues and challenges of national significance. This means that the National Platform must enter into relationships not only in the framework of the Eastern Partnership, but also cooperate with other international organizations, such as the Council of Europe or the OSCE. The National Platform must determine not only the Western vector of development, but also participate in the cooperation with Russia, including through the possible establishment of relations with the Civil Society Forum, existing under Russia - EU relations.

The European dialogue on modernization with Belarus should be included in the agenda of the Conference of the National Platform, exactly because this sets a framework for a dialogue between the civil society and democratic political opposition, and, under certain conditions, the Belarusian authorities, who are welcomed to participate in this dialogue. The dialogue is directly addressed to the National Platform as a body for coordination and consolidation of the civil society. But Europeans can not solve this problem instead of Belarusians themselves. This means that the actual content of the dialogue, its course, and the outcome on the possibilities of projects of elaborated reforms’ implementation under the modernization dialogue - all these are the civil society, and opposition, and the authorities’ problems.

Dzianis Melyantsou, a senior analyst of the Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies:

- It is necessary to determine, eventually, the general common goals and objectives of the National Platform. Since the Eastern Partnership is rather badly operating, - we can even say that the initiative has failed, including with regard to Belarus, - it is necessary reconsidering the activities of the National Platform, not being rigidly connected to the processes taking place under the Eastern Partnership as a whole. It is also necessary to determine the major projects of the National Platform, which would not only unite the organizations that are now included in the National Platform, but also allow for potential participants’ work. We need to think about the strategic steps, directions, which the Platform will be developing in. Among the minor issues that need to be addressed at the Conference is the election of a permanent steering committee and the discussion about the current state of the National Platform, Eastern Partnership and the civil society as a whole.

Yuri Chausau, a political scientist:

- For the moment, the National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum finds it in a situation when it is forced to reject the possibility of relating itself to the Eastern Partnership subject matter and thus to reach out for the new level of activity. It's ironic that the crisis of relations between Belarus and Europe makes the civil society, accumulated under the National Platform, looking for new spaces for participation in the Belarusian-European cooperation. That is, that non-governmental organizations go beyond the thematic platforms of the Eastern Partnership at the broader strata of subject matters, including those not directly related to the Eastern Partnership.

A major challenge for the organizations inside the National Platform is a dialogue on modernization with Belarus, initiated by the EU outside the Eastern Partnership. The experience of the National Platform organizations, obviously, will help them to fill this dialogue on modernization with specific content. The initiative has been declared loudly enough, but neither the EU, nor the Belarusian experts, let alone the Belarusian authorities have raised any specific issue of the content of this modernization dialogue.

At the upcoming Conference, the discussions on the place of the National Platform in the Belarusian civil society are likely to be continued, as well as on the possibility or inexpediency of engaging this structure in the Belarusian domestic policy processes, including those related to electoral policy, with the use of pre-election situation to defuse the situation in the country. In principle, these discussions were held at previous conferences, as well. On June 29-30, the next stage of development of the dialogue within the Belarusian civil society on such important issues will take place. The institutionalization of the National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum; the issues of the Interim Steering Committee, which is likely to become permanent; the links between the thematic platforms, working groups and the national coordinator; relations of the National Platform with the overarching Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum, which will be held in Stockholm in November - all these topics can be a cause for discussion and debate. In addition to the program discussion and debates about the civil society development, the Conference is to address the issues of its representatives’ delegation to the Forum in Stockholm.