BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS
DATE:
29/04/2009
European Parliament chief calls for democracy in Belarus
(WARSAW) - The president of the European Parliament on Wednesday called for the democratisation of Belarus at the opening of the European People's Party congress in Warsaw.
"We must commit ourselves so that (Belarussians) can also live in freedom and democracy," Hans-Gert Poettering told EPP delegates.
"In the European People's Party we are a community based on democracy, the rule of law, the principles of Solidarity and subsidiarity," he added, stressing that "we must not keep these rights just for ourselves".
Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, often described as "Europe's last dictator" who was under an EU travel ban until October 2008, appears to slowly be opening up to the West.
Despite the dubious human rights record of his government, the European Union invited Lukashenko on April 17 to its "Eastern Partnership" summit to be held May 7 in Prague with a view to stabilising the region.
Some 2,500 EPP delegates were in Warsaw for the congress Wednesday including more than a dozen heads of government, among them German Chancellor Angela Merkel, France's Prime Minister Francois Fillon, Italy's Silvio Berlusconi, Ukraine's Yulia Tymoshenko and Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.
The EPP congress, hosted by the Civic Platform (PO) party of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, launches the conservative party's campaign ahead of the June 4-7 election to the European Parliament across the 27-member EU.
Source:
http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/1241038021.39
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