EUROPEAN LAWMAKERS AGAINST INVITING BELARUS LEADER TO MAY SUMMIT

RIA Novosti
12:27 | 27/ 03/ 2009
BRUSSELS

European Parliament members have objected to plans to invite the
president of Belarus to a summit of EU and ex-Soviet states, citing
his failure to end human rights violations, a spokesman said on Friday.

The EU has been seeking to mend ties with Belarus, and earlier
this month prolonged the suspension of a travel ban that had been
imposed on President Alexander Lukashenko. At the last EU summit,
on March 19-20 in Brussels, Belarus was included in the EU’s Eastern
Partnership project with ex-Soviet republics.

However, the European Parliament spokesman told RIA Novosti that during
a plenary session in Strasbourg, the majority of members spoke out
against inviting Lukashenko to the May 7 Eastern Partnership summit
in Prague.

The Eastern Partnership project, which aims to improve human rights
and rule of law in former Soviet states, and to strengthen their
ties with the EU, also includes Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova
and Ukraine.

The ban on Alexander Lukashenko entering EU countries was
imposed in 2006 in protest against election fraud and human rights
violations. However, the 27-nation bloc suspended the ban last October,
after several political prisoners were freed in Belarus.

Opposition protests held in the Belarusian capital on Wednesday
attracted attention for the unusual restraint shown by the city’s
riot police. Previous protests in Minsk have resulted in mass arrests
and beatings.

However, one rights group said several activists had been arrested
before the start of the rally, which went ahead in central Minsk
despite official instructions to gather in a park outside the center.