Not calling for a revolution :: Charter'97 :: News

The Bialowieza Declaration MEPs aim to use as a statement to form the basis of a new European Parliament resolution at the next plenary in Strasbourg.

"Such a declaration would get widespread support", Polish MEP and declaration signatory Barbara Kudrycka predicted - the parliament`s June session agenda will not become clear until the end of this week.

She added that the cost of the proposed measures would be modest and pointed out that the commission has already allocated 12 million euro of assistance to Belarus for 2005 and 2006, with around 5 million euro slated to support "civil society" through measures such as boosting NGO capacity.

Ms Kudrycka warned that any resolution should not be interpreted as a call for an uprising on the model of Ukraine or Georgia however, saying "We can`t call for a revolution".

And she explained that the closing words of the Bialowieza Declaration, which envisage a Belarus that "will take its rightful place among the free nations of Europe", should not be taken as an invitation to join the EU.

The Bialowieza statement also called on Moscow to honour human rights commitments under the recent EU-Russia road map, urging president Vladimir Putin to withdraw his backing for the Lukashenko government, saying "We firmly reject the conspiracy theory about the democratic movements which was presented by the head of the FSB in the Russian Duma on 12 May".