Viktar Ivashkevich: Authorities have to make a step forward to the dialogue with the opposition :: Charter'97 :: News

”Hopes of the Belarusian authorities for overcoming the officially formulated cooperation conditions by means of various tricks failed. It so happened that the democratic issues are not a hollow subject for the European leaders. And without democratic reforms the authorities will not manage to improve cooperation with the European Union. It is high time for them to understand that without the dialogue with the opposition the dialogue with the European structures is unfeasible. As today it is the Belarusian opposition and not the officials that is the real envoy of Belarus to Europe”, deputy chairman of the BNF Party , chairman of the European March organizing committee Viktar Ivashkevich declared commenting to the Charter ’97 press center on the decision of the European Union .to turn down the suggestions of the official Minsk on economic cooperation as the cooperation is conditioned by the democratic changes in Belarus.

European Union .denounces the latest administrative arrest verdicts handed down this week to the Young front activists. That was reported by the European Commission spokeswoman Christina Hohmann to the Radio Svaboda.

”Messages about the long-term arrests of the public activists for their employment of the civil right to free expression made us worry. The repeated politically motivated arrests over the last months make the openness of Belarus to cooperation with the European Union doubtful.”

Ms Hohmann also said that the European Union is turning down the proposition of closer economic cooperation, particularly in energy resources transportation, made by deputy foreign minister of Belarus Valery Varanetsky at the press- conference on the European policy of neighborhood.

The European Commission spokeswoman stressed that the European Union would not allow the authoritarian top officials of Belarus to choose what spheres to cooperate in. She said that democratization of Belarus remains the condition for closer cooperation.

”Closer cooperation with the European Union demands the decisive steps of Belarus towards its democratization and human rights respect including the right to free expression and the right of non-governmental organizations to existence.

Last November the European Union. put forward 12 conditions to Minsk for improvement of its relations with the united Europe. According to Ms Hohmann, actions of the Belarusian authorities contradict to those conditions.