In his interview to charter97.org Martin Schulz described his position on the policy to be pursued towards Lukashenka’s regime. According to the President of the European Parliament, the dictator should be isolated without isolating the entire country and its citizens.
‘What we should avoid is that Mr. Lukashenka plays with us, because his strategy during the last years was in making small steps, concessions and compromises from time to time, forgetting something and then – next step – increasing the repressions within the country. The man should know clearly, even if he partially cooperates with the EU, to avoid that your people, your country is suffering even more. “Your time is limited” – this must be the message, clearly. And to other countries that are cooperating with him intensively – that the European Union cannot accept that we, on one hand, cooperate with them, and they cooperate with Lukashenka. Isolation means that we must show to the outside world that there is no chance in the middle and long-term for Mr. Lukashenka to survive politically,’ Martin Schulz told Charter’s editor-in-chief Natallia Radina.
The EP President also explained the difference between your position of principle on the dictatorship in Belarus and today’s attempt of the EU Council to lift sanctions from Lukashenka’s associates. The European Union, the governments of the Union should make a choice between isolating the dictator and not violating the interests of ordinary citizens in the country, he said.
‘For me as the President of the European Parliament it is more comfortable, I have much of maneuver to attack and say ‘no’, for me it is much larger than for the governments. They have to take into account very specific interests of the countries always in the frame that an economic boycott affects normally more ordinary citizens more than the upper class in the governmental structures. Therefore I would not be too fast to criticize such a position,’ Martin Schulz stressed.
