New Belarusian “house of representatives” won't be represented in Euronest

European Parliament members do not believe the “election” in Belarus will be recognized by the OSCE.

As Euroradio learned from a source in the European Parliament, there is no confidence a new Belarusian “parliament” will be recognized as legitimate. The start of the election campaign and events around it cast doubts if the election will be called free and fair by the OSCE/ODIHR. It means that new members of the “parliament” will not be able to represent Belarus at sessions of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly.

“Relations between Euronest and a new Belarusian parliament will be the same as relations with the OSCE/ODIHR. It means MPs will not take part in Euronest sessions, but will cooperate with Euronest's working group. Work with civil society and political activists will be organized. Government representatives will be invited to meetings, but the relations will be on a low level,” an EP representative said.

The Euronest Parliamentary Assembly is the parliamentary component of the  Eastern Partnership programme. It was planned the Euronest will consist of 60 MEPs and 10 members of parliaments of Ukraine, Armenia, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Belarus. The first session was held on May 3, 2011, without representatives of Belarus. An unanimous decision not to invite Belarusian MPs due to non-legitimate “parliament” and human rights abuses in the country was taken in February 2011 at a conference of the chairs of the EP political groups.