Milinkievich: IMF’s credits should depend on human rights

The Belarusian issue will be considered in the European Parliament on Wednesday and on Thursday. Andżelika Borys, the Poles Union of Belarus head, and Aliaksandr Milinkievich, the Movement for Freedom (the MFF) head, were invited to take part in this discussion.

In Brussels, they spoke unanimously against imposing the sanctions against Belarus, and for openness of the EU for the Belarusian society.

“There are calls for imposing the sanctions. However, having become the Belarusian citizen in 2005, I have never called for their imposition. I’m convinced we should ensure openness of Europe to the Belarusian citizens and to the Belarusian society, as a whole. This would give the common people, for instance, the opportunity to easily get a Shengen visa and to go to Europe”, Andżelika Borys noted.

Milinkievich thinks the same. “The EU should demonstrate it has tools of influence on dictatorships and authoritarian regimes, because we can make the authorities take steps towards democratization only by force”, Milinkievich stated.

“What are these tools? It’s very simple. Belarus receives presents in the form of credits from IMF rather than from the EU. However, cooperation with the international institutions should take place on the basis of respect for human rights. This is the issue of key importance”, Milinkievich declared. For reference – Milinkievich is the winner of the Sakharov Prize awarded by the European Parliament.

The European Parliament head Jerzy Buzek met Milinkievich and Borys. After their meeting, Buzek, Milinkievich, and Borys gave a briefing, and then the session of the European Parliament delegation on Belarus began. Belarusian side was represented by Milinkievich, Borys, and by Milinkievich’s adviser Ales Lahviniec, as well as by the representative of the Belarusian embassy who participated in discussion.

Borys pointed out that she had no chance to talk to the authorities over all these years in Belarus, though she wanted to do this. Surprisingly, this happened only now in the EU.

Milinkievich and Borys have scheduled meetings with every major European Parliament political groups. They will also meet the European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Štefan Füle.

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