Hearings in EP: Do not play with dictator

Members of the European Parliament believe that the ice hockey World Championship will become self-promotion for Lukashenka.

Members of the European Parliament Marek Migalski and Peter Stastny, who initiated a petition for holding the World Championship-2014 in a country different from Belarus, took part in a special hearing on this issue in the European Parliament.

Public hearings on the topic of “Holding the 2014 ice hockey World Championship” were organized by MEP Olle Smidt and Morten Lockengaard.

Marek Migalski, one of the most active opponents of holding the championship in Belarus, emphasized that there is still time to influence representatives of national ice hockey federations, who will take the final decision in mid-May at a meeting in Stokholm. The MEP for Poland spoke of the European Parliament’s actions on this issue, which have been taken up until today, and also he told about the civic campaigns, which were aimed at bringing broad public’s attention to this problem. Apart from that, Migalski reminded about the petition, created by the MEP together with Peter Stastny on the global platform Change.org – www.change.org/belarus2014, which over 18 700 people have signed.

The Polish MEP highlighted that the European Union must implement in practice the slogans about European values and respect to human rights, and if the World Championship takes place in Belarus, it will be self-promotion for Lukashenka and his regime.