Uladzimir Matskevich: European Parliament is about to send a new delegation to Belarus

The solution of a number of problems between Belarus and the European Union still depends on how the issue with the political prisoners will be settled.

This was reported by Uladzimir Matskevich, the head of the Board of the International Consortium “EuroBelarus” upon the meeting with the European Parliament's rapporteur on Belarus Justas Paleckis.

Let us recall that Justas Paleckis is visiting Minsk on March 18-21 to collect data for his report that will be submitted for the vote at the European Parliament later.

“The task set before the European deputies is rather difficult. First, since Belarus is not a part of the EU and is rather closed country for the European politics there is little data about the situation in the country. Besides, there are different factions within the European Parliament, each of which has people who are more or less aware of the situation in Belarus. And these people hold different views”, - noted Uladzimir Matskevich.

One group of the European deputies assumes that they should collaborate with the Belarusan regime despite all sorts of circumstances, as anyway, this will benefit to the life conditions of the population, normalization of the international politics, etc. There are also those who are very radical in their stance, up to the cancellation of any contacts with the regime, noted the head of the Board of “EuroBelarus”.

Justas Paleckis is moderate in his views. “Nevertheless, he also has very little information about the situation in the country”, - Uladzimir Matskevich noticed. He added that the Lithuanian deputy came on a visit to Minsk just to bridge this gap in information awareness.

 Among the most pressing questions touched upon in the course of meetings with the Belarusan politicians and public leaders is, of course, the question with the political prisoners. “And it is the solution of this question that all the other solutions depend on, - highlighted Uladzimir Matskevich. – Thus, European Parliament is about to send an impressive delegation of Parliamentarians to Belarus this summer. Accordingly, the delegation and the European Parliament have a question before them: what if by this time not all the political prisoners would be released? Can we go to the country or it is unacceptable under these circumstances?” “What if the authorities undertake half-measures, releasing only some of the political prisoners, or some other actions, like closure of the case against Andrei Pachobut? – continued the head of the Board of “EuroBelarus”. – Should we encourage such steps? Should the delegation be sent anyway, even if no one is released, so that to put the question about the political prisoners’ release right here?”

Justas Paleckis suggests his Belarusan interlocutors to consider similar questions.

Talking about his view of the situation, Uladzimir Matskevich noted, that “like the majority of the representatives of the Belarusan civil society who met Paleckis, I put the question with the political prisoners categorically. The divergence of opinion deals only with the issue of rehabilitation”.

“I believe that under this regime rehabilitation is impossible. The regime is inept for the democratization and liberalization. So the question about the release of the political prisoners is uncompromising, while their rehabilitation is a more distant prospective”, - stated the head of the Board of “EuroBelarus”.

He reported that in addition to the possible ways to solve the problem with the political prisoners, Justas Paleckis was also interested in the social base Lukashenka and the regime, as well as the opposition, can count on.

“He is also interested in the situation within the civil society itself and within the political opposition. Justas Paleckis gave high evaluation of our efforts aimed at consolidation of the civil society and about the creation of the National Platform. He emphasized that European deputies highly appreciate such efforts of consolidation and ascribe certain hopes of the democratic future of Belarus with it”, - told Uladzimir Matskevich.