German MP: We are shocked. Nobody expected such aftermath
According to Marieluise Beck who has visited Minsk today, the European Union should give an adequate response about the events in Belarus. She said that special commissions studying the situation in our country had already started functioning in Brussels. A Bundestag member Marieluise Beck has visited Minsk today. She has confessed to the press that the West did not expect such a brutal aftermath in Belarus. According to her, if the European Union has self-respect, it should give an adequate response to the events that have been taking place in Belarus for 10 days.
The main aim of the visit is to make the detained understand that the West is worried about them and does not want to turn its back on them, noted the MP. She hopes that the information will reach those who are facing long terms of imprisonment and those who were injured.
Marieluise Beck: “Naturally, the fate of the imprisoned is the top priority. Torture in the KGB detention centre should not be tolerated in a country that is a member of the OSCE. The right for a demonstration should not result in huge fines”.
Europe and Germany in particular, are in a Christmas dream at the moment. The legislative power and officials are on vacations. However, the foreign MP has promised that the European Union will give an adequate account soon.
Marieluise Beck: “There have been no political agreements or discussion. We are shocked too. Nobody expected such a political aftermath. Of course, there was some discord in the opinions about the steadiness of the liberalization policy. But nobody expected that the aftermath would be more dramatic than in 2006”.
EU Foreign Ministers are going to hold a meeting only in the second half of January. However, special commission studying the situation in Belarus have already started functioning in Brussels.
Marieluise Beck: “If the West would like to be taken seriously, it should give an adequate response to the events that have been taking place in the country for 10 days. The OSCE should discuss the fact that one of its members does not care about the organization’s principles”.
The deputy thinks that Ministers will forbid entrance to the European Union to Belarusian officials again. Let us remind you that the decision about another suspension of the visa sanctions was taken by the EU only a month ago. At the same time, the visa policy should be simplified for ordinary citizens, thinks Marieluise Beck.
Marieluise Beck: “I have never understood the European Commission’s arguments that Belarusians should pay 60 euro for a visa because they live in an authoritarian state. The European Union is helping the regime to prevent people from travelling this way”.
The visa policy liberalization is the only point where my position coincides with the position of the Belarusian government, joked Marieluise Beck.
She has also informed that officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs refused to meet her although the meeting had been appointed in advance.
Marieluise Beck: “The Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs was so busy that it did not find time to meet me although the meeting had been appointed. I am going to take in into consideration and I have my own opinion about it”.
It is worth mentioning that the editor-in-chief of “Narodnaya Volya” Iosif Syaredzich who came to meet Marieluise Beck had to leave for an interrogation in KGB in the middle of the press conference.
Let us remind you that the German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle (together with the Foreign Ministers of the Czech Republic, Sweden and Poland) published the article “Lukashenka the Loser” in the American newspaper The New York Times on December 23. It said that “positive engagement with Mr. Lukashenka at the moment seems to be a waste of time and money”, that the election had been rigged and that repressions had become part of Belarus’ political life.
The main aim of the visit is to make the detained understand that the West is worried about them and does not want to turn its back on them, noted the MP. She hopes that the information will reach those who are facing long terms of imprisonment and those who were injured.
Marieluise Beck: “Naturally, the fate of the imprisoned is the top priority. Torture in the KGB detention centre should not be tolerated in a country that is a member of the OSCE. The right for a demonstration should not result in huge fines”.
Europe and Germany in particular, are in a Christmas dream at the moment. The legislative power and officials are on vacations. However, the foreign MP has promised that the European Union will give an adequate account soon.
Marieluise Beck: “There have been no political agreements or discussion. We are shocked too. Nobody expected such a political aftermath. Of course, there was some discord in the opinions about the steadiness of the liberalization policy. But nobody expected that the aftermath would be more dramatic than in 2006”.
EU Foreign Ministers are going to hold a meeting only in the second half of January. However, special commission studying the situation in Belarus have already started functioning in Brussels.
Marieluise Beck: “If the West would like to be taken seriously, it should give an adequate response to the events that have been taking place in the country for 10 days. The OSCE should discuss the fact that one of its members does not care about the organization’s principles”.
The deputy thinks that Ministers will forbid entrance to the European Union to Belarusian officials again. Let us remind you that the decision about another suspension of the visa sanctions was taken by the EU only a month ago. At the same time, the visa policy should be simplified for ordinary citizens, thinks Marieluise Beck.
Marieluise Beck: “I have never understood the European Commission’s arguments that Belarusians should pay 60 euro for a visa because they live in an authoritarian state. The European Union is helping the regime to prevent people from travelling this way”.
The visa policy liberalization is the only point where my position coincides with the position of the Belarusian government, joked Marieluise Beck.
She has also informed that officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs refused to meet her although the meeting had been appointed in advance.
Marieluise Beck: “The Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs was so busy that it did not find time to meet me although the meeting had been appointed. I am going to take in into consideration and I have my own opinion about it”.
It is worth mentioning that the editor-in-chief of “Narodnaya Volya” Iosif Syaredzich who came to meet Marieluise Beck had to leave for an interrogation in KGB in the middle of the press conference.
Let us remind you that the German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle (together with the Foreign Ministers of the Czech Republic, Sweden and Poland) published the article “Lukashenka the Loser” in the American newspaper The New York Times on December 23. It said that “positive engagement with Mr. Lukashenka at the moment seems to be a waste of time and money”, that the election had been rigged and that repressions had become part of Belarus’ political life.
