Million Of Signatures For Belarus’ European Future :: Charter'97 :: News

The campaign of collection of signatures for Belarus joining the European Union started, told leaders of the European coalition “Free Belarus” Andrei Sannikov, Mikola Statkevich, Valyantsina Matusevich and Leanid Malakhaw at a press conference. The European Coalition “Free Belarus” is planning to collect a million of signatures of Belarusian citizens.

The European Coalition starts to collect signatures under an appeal containing the following words: “only with the help of the European Union Belarus would be able to implement vital economical and political reforms. Only in the European Union the prosperity of our children could be secured. Only in the European Union we would be able to expect adequate pensions, salaries, medical provision and social security. Only in the European Union normal development of national language and Belarusian culture as integral parts of the European culture could be guaranteed”.

Supporters of the European way f or their country are to put signatures under the words: “Me, the citizen of the Republic of Belarus, second integration of the Republic of Belarus to the European Union”. The European Coalition is to forward all collected signatures to the governing bodies of the European Union: the European Parliament, the European Commission and other structures.

“As politicians we are to respond to the desire of the Belarusian people to live in Europe”, said coordinator of the European Coalition “Free Belarus”, an international coordinator of civil initiative Charter’97 Andrei Sannikov.

As said by the coordinator of the European coalition “Free Belarus”, chairman of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Narodnaya Hramada) Mikola Statkevich, the realization of this goal is completely realistic, as during the presidential elections the BSDP (NH) itself had collected 240 thousand signatures for opposition candidates. Now the task is simplified by the fact that businessmen organizations and the largest Belarusian Women’s Party “Nadzieya” are to take part in the campaign.

The European coalition “Free Belarus” is planning to hold a national conference “The European way in Belarus”, with participation of a wide range of Belarusian political forces. Seminars and conferences on this subject are to be carried out in the regions as well. Contests of essays on the topic of the United Europe are to be organized for schoolchildren and students. The European Coalition is going to widely celebrate the day of the EU enlargement widely on the 1st of May this year. Mass actions are planned throughout the country. These celebrations, as leaders of the coalition believe, are to manifest the wish of the Belarusians to live in Europe.