Štefan Füle: Time is ripe for action

The release of the Belarusan prisoners of conscience remains one of the main demands of the EU which at the same time welcomes dialog extension inside the Belarusan civil society.

 This was reported by Štefan Füle, European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy yesterday, on the 29^th of November in Stockholm, during the fourth meeting of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum (EaP SCF).

Assessing the work of the EaP SCF figuratively, Štefan Füle noted that “several years ago our Forum was compared to a lovely baby, but now it has grown up, it has its voice already and it compels a lot of attention”.

Those countries which implement more in-depth reforms receive greater support from the side of the European institutes, noted the European Commissioner, and called upon the representatives of the civil society to “exert influence upon your governments in order to carry out reforms”.

The politics of the EU in relation to Belarus so far remains steady. “We continue to urge Belarusan authorities to release prisoners of conscience, -emphasized Štefan Füle. – We also support dialog within the Belarusan civil society”.

According to him, “European Union will provide further support for the organizations that fight for democracy in all Eastern Partnership countries”. Štefan Füle is confident that the National Platforms in the Eastern partnership countries will be supported, will consolidate and develop, and civil society in the countries-participants of the EaP SCF will reveal public mood as well as stand up for the interests of the civil societies of these countries. And “the dialog between the EU and the governments of the Eastern Partnership countries is not an end in itself; our main goal is the consolidation of democracy in your countries. And the civil society should play important role in the guidelines of our activities; civil society is a very important element of our common efforts, including negotiations with the governments of your countries”.

Štefan Füle mentioned the steadiness of the processes within the scope of the EaP CSF as well as the big potential of the Forum which it still has to work into practice: “You got an unprecedented support from the European Union, but we still have to do a lot so that to build up an understanding with the governments of your countries”.

At the end of his adress to the participants of the Forum, European Commissioner stated the readiness of the EU to support civil society in the countries of the Eastern Partnership and urged to pass from words to deeds: “The time has come when the civil society, which is materialized by the thousands of activists, should play the principal role in the Eastern Partnership reform processes”.

As the EuroBelarus Information Service reported earlier, representatives of 23 Belarusan organizations participate in the Forum.