Aliaksandr Makaeu: Small businessmen will have to violate law or strike

The atmosphere in the small business community has become tense.

Aliaksandr Makaeu, one of the leaders of the small businessmen movement, gave an interview to charter97.org.

“It's possible that there will be a wave of protests and warning strikes, as it was in summer, and then a national strike in December. Small businessmen will unite. We need to solve the problem, because it's impossible to work under such conditions. We will have to violate the law. Market vendors have to work because they earn in this way. Most of them have no other jobs, they will just work outside the law. The government violates the fundamental right to work,” the businessman stressed.

The activist noted that small businessmen either went on strike and organised protests in the 2000s or held difficult talks with the authorities.

“We've got used that the authorities do nothing good for small businessmen. They only make statements and release decrees to support small business. It's clear that protests influences the registration procedures, slight improvements in taxation, but the atmosphere among market vendors is tense and the authorities treat small businessmen almost like enemies. It hasn't changed for years. It's hard to understand. None of the world's dictatorships eliminated small businessmen as a class – Lukashenka is unique,” Aliaksandr makaeu is confident.

We remind that small businessmen held a forum yesterday and adopted a harsh resolution. The meeting was devoted to the problem of the Customs Union's technical regulations on safety of light industry products.

The forum was held after the statement by Belarusian deputy prime minister Piotr Prakapovich, who said on October 31 that starting December 1, 2013, market vendors wouldn't be allowed selling goods without the documents confirming their quality and safety in accordance with the Customs Union's technical regulations on safety of light industry products.