She pointed out that Belarusians need the support of the European Union in their struggle for a democratic Belarus. Belarusians want to hear that their country will not be handed over to Russian President Vladimir Putin as a consolation prize, an exiled Belarusian opposition leader told MEPs on Wednesday.
Addressing the participants of the plenary session, the leader of the democratic forces of Belarus called on the MEPs to support the European perspective of Belarus and urged the EP to raise relations with democratic Belarus to a new level.
She proposed to sign a memorandum before the 2024 EP elections, which would be the basis for cooperation between the EP and democratic Belarus.
Cihanouska said that Belarusians need support in their struggle for a democratic Belarus. Lukashenko does not deserve a place in the international community, but a ticket to the international court in The Hague, she said.
Cihanouska announced that next year the Belarusian democratic forces will start issuing their own passports, which will prove Belarusian citizenship and serve as a travel document for Belarusians in exile. She will soon ask EU governments to recognize this new travel document.
On Wednesday, the EP also adopted a new resolution on the EU’s relations with Belarus, in which it expresses its support for the declarations of the country’s democratic political parties on the European perspective of Belarus. MEPs call on the Belarusian regime to release all political prisoners and strongly condemn Minsk’s participation in Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine. They note with great concern that Belarus is subject to Moscow and is a “de facto” Russian satellite state that hosts Russian-led tactical nuclear weapons.
In the text, the MEPs call for stricter EU sanctions against Belarus, while emphasizing that the recent arrival of Russian “Wagner” group mercenaries on its territory creates new security risks for Ukraine, Belarus’ EU neighbors and the EU as a whole. The resolution was adopted with 453 votes in favor, 21 against and 40 abstentions.
2023-09-13 15:31:00
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