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Zingeris: Lukashenka is bluffing and playing the economy’s card

Zingeris: Lukashenka is bluffing and playing the economy’s card

The Belarusian dictator has resumed his attempts to fool the European Union.

Emanuelis Zingeris, a deputy head of the Committee on European Affairs and Vice President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, gave an interview to charter97.org.

- On March 26 the conference titled What Can Belarus Expect from Lithuania's Presidency of the Council of the European Union was held in Vilnius. Let me ask you the question of the title. What, in your opinion, can Belarus expect from Lithuania?

- Anything but cowardice. You have tested and educated our courage. Lithuania’s first exam started on March 11, 1990, with the help of Western and Russian democrats. We passed and managed to join the free world in time. The young generation will never turn back; they will never bow their heads to the monument of Dziarzhynski. Today, no bureaucrat can yell at a young Lithuanian. Fear - the monster that ruled in the Soviet Union - is gone.

In the period of the early Great Duchy of Lithuania, the Mongol-Tartar yoke didn’t reach the Belarusian people. Belarusian cities obtain the Magdeburg right that contained basic notions of citizens’ rights of those times. Belarusian, Lithuanian and Polish rebels marched under Kosciuszko and Kalinouski banners. I hope that this order of historical events on an instinct level will not let Lithuanians who know the history give up the Belarusians’ freedom. I hope that the historical responsibility will not let Lithuanian politicians welcome representatives of the regime at the Vilnius summit in November.

The Ales Bialiatski examination was quite clear for the Lithuanian bureaucracy. Its question is: Do they realize that by giving in Bialiatski, they give in the European Union, NATO and the ideas of the Western world? Apparently, a part of the bureaucrats don’t realize that they are citizens of the European Union and live in the West. But Belarusians helped them find out. It was a new exam to check how mature the democracy is.

- But today, instead of taking effective measures and introducing sanctions against the dictatorship, European politicians plan a new “dialog” with Lukashenka’s dictatorship.

- First of all, unfortunately, there is one additional factor: the Belarusian regime is cunning and it is using all possible ways to bluff, to play the economy’s card, to exploit industrial circles of neighbors, to create its own logics of events.

Unfortunately, with every little thaw the scenario is repeated. Suddenly Marquis de Carabas turns into a charming angel, nearly an Amour. It turns out that this is Mister Lukashenka’s role for the coming two months, after which he turns back to Marquis de Carabas and locks the dolls in the little prison, hiding the key in the pocket of his vest.

9.5 million people become characters in the authoritarian play “Puppet Show of Mister Lukashenka” performed in the center of Europe. He bursts into their lives and cripples everyone.

We cannot allow this circus before the summit in Lithuania. We need guarantees that such staged “thaws” will not be accepted, that the democratic changes will take place and the European Parliament’s resolutions will be put into action.

Second of all, an end should be put to the regime’s sneaky attempts to keep the Belarusian political elite on a hook, put its representatives in prison and refuse to rehabilitate them. The prisoners of consciousness must be rehabilitated.

Thirdly, I’d like to emphasize that the project of the European Humanitarian University in Vilnius has proved to be very successful. The communication with young academics is extremely important. It makes us really angry to hear that the KGB and other institutions of power ask students where and what they study. Belarus is the only country in Europe that is not allowed to join the Bologna process where even Russia is a member. This is an exchange program for students and professors.

The same goes for the legislation on labeling Lukashenka, and the law that allows to treat a person silently clapping hands as a criminal. Does Lukashenka really think that the West has gone mad, and the same rituals of the puppet show will be repeated every two years?

The prison doors should open for the 13 political prisoners. We need guarantees that it will never happen again. Of course, Lukashenka has more resources than an average oligarch, but he can’t bribe the governments of the U.K. or U.S.A. He cannot penetrate the structures of the European Union and the political moral of the democratic world. Even Mister Putin cannot do that.

The puppeteer’s feeling of his own power is exaggerated. Anyone who is familiar with the classic literature, from Nabokov to Kafka and Orwell, knows what we are dealing with. This time, I hope, he won’t succeed in fooling the European Union, although I can’t be certain that he is not secretly consulting with someone from the European Parliament and political parties. But Mister Lukashenka’s portrait is so clear that the politicians ready to cooperate with him will be afraid to lose their voters.

- Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats expressed a firm position regarding the Belarusian regime. How will the new social-democratic government of Lithuania treat Lukashenka?

- I cannot say because today I am with the opposition. Refusing to do business with Mister Lukashenka can result in pressure and collecting of evidence and data. But for the national security of Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Estonia, Czech and Slovakia – Belarus’ closest neighbors – this regime (using the terms from old school books) carries an active hostile ideology for the European world.

Let’s see, the Vilnius summit will show. If no significant changes happen before representatives of the regime come to the summit, it means that the positions have been abandoned.

I don’t think that it’s time for Dziarzhynski’s or Lenin’s portraits in Lithuania; it is beyond possible. But it is possible to spread the ideology of cynicism, clandestine agreements and small conspiracies between countries and some of their economic circles. It is possible to fool, to let them come to Belarus, to make them run faster, earn faster – with personal assistance from Lukashenka’s administration. But these guys should keep in mind that they are not protected by any rules, like in Germany or Italy, where it is much harder to earn money. Pinocchio has buried the coins under the tree but unfortunately he cannot find the cache.

Undoubtedly, we would welcome a decision plan from Lukashenka’s administration. It must include, among other issues, simplified travel rules for those who live within 50 kilometers from the border. Lithuania’s Parliament chaired by the conservative party has ratified the agreement that concerns one million people both from the Belarusian and Lithuanian sides, including residents of Grodna and Lida. Where is Minsk’s reply? We’ve got none.

- What is your opinion of the initiatives of European deputy Justas Paleckis who advocates a new “dialog” between the West and Lukashenka?

- I don’t want to comment. I don’t know the circumstances.

- But it is known for a fact that he is one of the persons included to lord Bell’s list of persons who may help “cleanse” Lukashenka’s image.

- You should ask this Mister Paleckis. I am a national politician while he is a European Parliament deputy. I believe that he will be asked this question there. He has immunity of a European Parliament Deputy. Let’s put a stop here.

- Should Belarusian officials be allowed to come to the summit in Vilnius?

- Not those who are black-listed. There are no plans to abolish the lists. However, there are suggestions to erase some names on Lukashenka’s request; the foreign minister and someone else. The European Parliamentarians who visit Belarus know more about that issue. I have been barred from coming to Belarus for many years.

I can say that if Lukashenka has “courage” to fly to remote countries like Venezuela and Iran, then he may have strength to develop several laws, together with the parliament, that will give the Belarusians more rights.

I believe that soon we’ll get a new “thaw” with no guarantees for the future, for the freedom of expression for Belarusians. Maybe Lukashenka doesn’t consider Belarusians to be a European nation. In our view, Belarusians are as European as the Czech, Slovaks or Poles. We see thousands of young people who don’t look different from Lithuanians or Poles, have excellent skills in English, German, French. But it is not clear for him. He should look into young, uncensored smiles of Belarusian students and search for his future there. I don’t think that these smiles promise a long life for the dictatorship.

We expect a set of measures that will restore what Belarus has lost during the last 18 years, a set of steps that will bring Belarus closer at least to the level of Ukraine or Moldova, who have both freedom of speech and will. Nobody is imprisoned for talking against president. Ukraine and Moldova have a long way ahead to the European Union, but they are moving forward. Of all possible topics, Lithuania has chosen the policy of European neighborhood. It is not our fault that Belarus is not included to the technical map of the European neighborhood policy.

- What is your opinion of the European Union’s new initiative, Dialogue on Modernisation with Belarus?

- Lukashenka has isolated Belarus even from its closest neighbors. If he is thinking of modernization, he can speed it up significantly by issuing laws on free media, human rights and a dozen of other aspects that have been destroyed during the recent 18 years.

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