Milinkevich tells about “creating a new type of opposition”
Recently, there have been statements that the leader of the Movement For Freedom Aliaksandr Milinkevich advocates the dialogue between the official Minsk and the united Europe without any conditions. We asked the politician if this is really true.
Nasha Niva: Mr. Milinkevich, is it true that you support the idea of the dialogue with no conditions?
Aliaksandr Milinkevich: My position was expressed long ago: the dialogue between the EU and Belarus needs a road map or at least an action plan. This should be a step-by-step cooperation, the movement forward. Greater economic ties should be function of institutional changes for democratization in our country. Otherwise, there is a risk of conservation of current form of government instead of its transformation.
NN: And what role should democratic forces play in this dialogue?
AM: Democratic society should not allow the government to imitate reforms and liberalization. We should demand real reforms and, in the first place, propose our own programme of reforms in the country. It should be done not in confrontation terms but as a constructive criticism of the authorities within the framework of a dialogue. Uniting and developing of a new type of opposition should be based on the unity of ideas and future vision of Belarus, not on the principle ‘being-friends-only-against-someone’. Politics should be based on the struggle of ideas, not personal ambitions. Political forces should unite on the ground of common ideology. With the renewal of the dialogue between the EU and Belarus, the European idea became very relevant and possible for the new opposition, namely the idea of the European integration as the future for Belarus. This idea goes perfectly with national renaissance and preservation of independence objectives.
Written down by Zmicier Pankaviec
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