Benita Ferrero-Waldner welcomes holding of the European March in Minsk

"I welcome the initiative taken by Belarusian civil society to organise a European March in Minsk on 14 October in order to express the support of the Belarusian people for closer relations between Belarus and the EU”, - Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner declared today.

“It is good to see that Belarusian civil society has taken up the EU's offer to Belarus to enter a full partnership, provided that Belarus would take convincing steps towards democratisation. In this context, I am concerned by reports that a number of organisers of this peaceful march have been arrested”, - Commissioner of the EU declared.

I would expect the Belarusian authorities to act in accordance with their recently reconfirmed position of getting closer to the EU. These actions are in contrast to this position. I urge the Belarusian authorities to immediately release all those detained on political grounds and to respect the basic human right of the Belarusian people to express themselves and to assemble, including on the 14th October", - Benita Ferrero-Waldner said.