The year 2004 will be the year of Europe in Belarus :: Charter'97 :: News

The European Coalition “Free Belarus” aims to proclaim the year 2004 as the year of Europe, the founders of the Coalition Mikalai Statkevich, Andrei Sannikov, Iryna Krasouskaya, and Nina Stuzhynskaya said at the press conference in Minsk on November 25. There was also a suggestion to hold an action of the joined opposition forces against human rights’ violation in Belarus on December 10, the day when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed.

The spokespersons started their press conference with the reports on their visits abroad. All of them held a presentation of the European Coalition in Germany and the US, they also “passed the information on the wish of most of the Belarusians to join the European Union.”

On November 2, the next day after the Coalition was created, the Belarusian delegation headed by the chairperson of the Belarusian Women’s League Nina Stuzhynskaya went to Germany. This delegation was the first to present the Coalition. They visited 12 towns in various lands of the Federative Republic of Germany, where meetings with the representatives of the authorities, political parties, and public associations were held.

-We talked with German partners about why the necessity to create such a coalition appeared at this very moment. Actually, I persuaded my colleagues that the way to Europe is a traditional solution for the Belarusian national issue. 80 years ago our predecessors strived to fulfill the national idea under the European roof. The national idea is a European one, stated the chairperson of the Belarusian Women’s League Nina Stuzhynskaya.

The leaders of the European Coalition “Free Belarus”, the chairman of the Belarusian Social Democratic party “Narodnaya Hramada” Mikalai Statkevich, and the international coordinator of the Civil Initiative “Charter’97” Andrei Sannikov, visited the Federative Republic of Germany on November 16-19. They met with Gerhard Schroeder, the Federal Chancellor of Germany. Gerhard Schroeder expressed his interest on the situation in Belarus and the recently created European Coalition “Free Belarus”.

Mikalai Statkevich and Andrei Sannikov met with the representatives of the European Union, with the EU High Commissioner on Expanding Guenter Verheugen. Mr. Verheugen spoke in his speech about expanded Europe, including Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova.

-I would like to highlight that when we met with Gerhard Schroeder, he already knew about the creation of the European Coalition. I would also like to mention our meeting with the EU High Commissioner on Expanding Guenter Verheugen, who supports the concept of united Europe. It means that the doors to Europe for such European states as Belarus are not closed. Verheugen always underlines that Europe should expand, and the EU should work with Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova as with future EU member-states.

I would like to evaluate optimistically the plans we discussed with the officials of the European Committee on the promoting the EU ideas in Belarus. These were the most important meetings. Despite the fact that the European Coalition has just been proclaimed, they showed great interest in how we will work and our future plans for the parliamentary elections, said Andrei Sannikov.

Tomorrow, on November 26 Statkevich plans to go to Warsaw, where he plans to have talks with the Secretary General of the Union of Left Democrats Marek Dzieduch.

- Next year we will organize meetings on the highest level in Czech Republic and Poland, I also consider meeting with the head of the Lithuanian government. However, for you not to think that we deal only with the internal presentation I want to say that at the end of December an information campaign will start and it will last the whole next year, which I suggest calling the year of Europe, stated Statkevich.

Iryna Krasouskaya, whose husband, a Belarusian businessman and public activist, is missing from 1999, was visiting Washington last week. Krasouskaya met with Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, Assistant Secretary Lorne Craner, Under Secretary Paula Dobriansky, and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Newly Independent States Steven Pifer. She also met with the representatives of Helsinki Commission of the US Congress, National Security Council, congressman Tom Latos’ staff, senators Hillary Clinton’s and Josef Biden’s staff, and with the former US ambassador in Belarus Michael Kozak. There were also meetings with the NGO activists. Iryna Krasouskaya gave an interview to radio “Freedom”.

She said:
-My trip had two goals, to attract the US attention to the events in Belarus, to the situation with human rights back home, and to the perspectives of development of democracy in Belarus. The second goal was to attract the Belarusian authorities’ attention and to remind one more time about the situation with the human rights and the missing people. I think that I have reached the first goal, as the US State Department published a press release, spread by the leading information agencies of the world. Absolutely everybody I met were certain that the Belarusians should have a European choice, that Belarus should follow a democratic way, and the human rights should be observed.
She ended her speech with an unexpected suggestion.
-During the meetings a lot was said that the Belarusian democratic forces should unite in the process of constructing new, free, and European Belarus. For our union to be real I suggest to hold an action on December 10, the day the Declaration of Human Rights was proclaimed, to remind about the victims of the repressions, the missing, the dead, and the killed, those imprisoned, and other people whose rights have been violated. I suggest the action to show the real union of all – the European Coalition “Free Belarus”, “Five plus”, NGOs, and ordinary people. I suggest holding the action on December 10, at 6 pm, on Skaryna Avenue.
It would be nice if people held candles and stood in a chain with portraits from Nezalezhnasti Square to Peramohi Square.