The delegation of the European Parliament refused to meet with members of the Belarusian House of Representatives. The European parliamentarians did that 15 minutes before the meeting. One of the MEP delegates, Petras Auštrevičius, spoke about the reasons for the refusal to meet with Belsat politicians.
“The official line of the European Union is non-recognition of the National Assembly of Belarus. After all, in the absence of elections based on the right and freedom of choice, we can’t recognize the Belarusian parliament as legitimate. We have reasonable doubts about the elections,” said Petras Auštrevičius, EU Parliament Special Rapporteur on Belarus, to Belsat.
The visit of the European Parliament delegation will last from February 24 to 28. The MPs had meetings with representatives of Belarusian ministries, civil society and opposition parties. MEPs discussed the amendments to the Belarusian Constitution, domestic violence, human rights, the right to peaceful assembly. The Astraviets NPP was an important point of the meetings. According to Petras Auštrevičius, the impressions from the dialogue varied.
“It’s one thing to listen to the representatives of the ministries, and another thing to listen to human rights activists. Sometimes the information is different, and the answers in the ministries are blurred. It’s nice to meet, you’ll learn something, but I can’t say that the fog has cleared,” stressed the representative of the European Parliament.
Apart from Minsk, the European Parliament representatives will visit Nyasvizh and Mir, as well as Hrodna. There, the European delegates will meet with Hrodna authorities and students, as well as visit the Kuznitsa – Bruzgi border crossing point.
Kseniya Tarasevich belsat.eu
