Tsikhanouskaya meets with EP President David Sassoli, announces hearings on Belarus in Brussels
As part of his four-day visit to Baltic countries, David Sassoli, President of the European Parliament, met with Belarusian opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya in Vilnius on August, 17.
During the meeting, Tsikhanouskaya urged the EU to ‘be consistent in their policies’ and not to get involved in the Belarusian regime’s game of trading-off political prisoners and imitation of concessions; in her opinion, all Belarusian political prisoners must be unconditionally released and restored to their rights. On the back of the regime’s refusal to take part in the Eastern Partnership initiative, the politician proposed to find another format for Belarus’ participation it it.
David Sassoli and Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya discussed the $1 bn tranche which the regime might get from the Iinternational Monetary Fund. According to the Belarusian opposition leader, it should be allocated only to free Belarus; until then, the tranche should be frozen. If such option is off the cards, one should keep track of the money so that they would be spent on vaccines and lung ventilators, not on maintaining pro-Lukashenka forces, Tsikhanouskaya stressed.
“The regime <…> became a threat to the entire European Union. The dictator must receive a clear message: he must go,” she said on Twitter.
In addition, the parties agreed that Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya would visit Brussels in the autumn and address the European Parliament.
“We are going to stage hearings on the Belarusian issue in Brussels; we have garnered the support of the European Union,” the politician said when reached by Belsat.
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