Lydia Polfer: “Belarus Unprepared to Abandon Self-Isolation” :: Charter'97 :: News

Yesterday in Strasbourg the PACE deputies posed their questions to the chairwoman of the Cabinet of Ministers of CoE, Foreign Minister of Luxemburg Lydia Polfer. Deputy of the Lithuanian Sojm Vatslav Stankevich inquired from her what kind of policy the Council of Europe would be implementing with regard for Belarus. Mrs.Polfer replied that on September 13 in Warsaw the CoE Secretary General Walter Shwimmer called on the Belarusian authorities to implement real political reforms. Such proposals were voiced earlier too. The CoE always wished to maintain sound dialogue with Belarus and some positive changes can be observed there. However, according to her, Belarus is not yet ready to leave self-isolation, which is proved by the scandal over the AMG mission in Minsk.

The head of the committee underscored that the Council of Europe will still demand from Belarus cancellation of capital punishment, enlargement of parliamentary functions, progress in human rights sphere and investigation into the politicians’ disappearances. Mrs.Polfer noted that the Belarusian authorities must guarantee the passage of the new media law, independence of the judiciary, end of political persecution, including for criticism of the incumbent.

The Council of Europe intends to keep up contacts with civil organizations, political parties and press. Today representatives of the Belarusian political parties Anatoly Lebedko, Yaroslav Romanchuk and Valentina Polevikova met with the CoE Secretary General Walter Shwimmer. By the way, this is a second successive session when Mr.Shwimmer agrees to meet only the opposition delegates, denying audience to the official representatives. Anatoly Lebedko was extremely satisfied with the meeting – Mr.Shwimmer is one of the most well-informed persons on Belarus.

Today the issue of Belarus was unexpectedly raised during the deliberations of the Kaliningrad problem at the plenary meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly. The text of the resolution mentions that Belarus hasn’t yet ratified customs accords with Lithuania, which strongly complicates the solution of the Kaliningrad problem. However, say the deputies, this problem can be resolved easier than the Belarusian one.