Republic

MINSK, 22 April (BelTA) – The European Parliament is looking for the slightest reasons to prevent Belarus from participating in EuroNest, Igor Karpenko, Chairman of the International Affairs and CIS Relations Commission of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus, told media on 22 April. According to the latest data, the European Parliament and representatives of five parliaments of Eastern Partnership Initiative countries intend to sign EuroNest constituent documents in Brussels on 3 May. There are plans to do it without Belarus. The European Parliament came up with the idea not to involve Belarus in a bid to force Belarus’ partners - parliamentarians of Armenia, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, and Azerbaijan – to follow the policy of restrictions with regard to Belarus, said Igor Karpenko. The MP said that throughout the entire discussion about what EuroNest should be like the European Parliament had never contacted the Belarusian parliament officially. The National Assembly of Belarus had received no official letters, no draft constituent documents. Everything had been done behind the scenes. It is from informal channels and mass media that Belarus learned about the formulas of the Belarusian delegation’s participation that the European Parliament offers. Initially Belarus was expected to send five MPs and five representatives of the civil society. It was later changed into a 10+10 formula that the official Minsk allegedly rejected. Igor Karpenko was baffled as to why the constituent documents had to specify any formulas at all. He said that the Belarusian parliament has nothing against the presence of representatives of the civil society at sessions. The said representatives attend these sessions more often than members of the Belarusian parliament attend sessions in PACE, the European Parliament and the OSCE. “Why does the number have to be limited to ten representatives? Maybe 50 would be better?” wondered the MP. It is also unclear why restrictions and formulas apply only to Belarus and no restrictions are imposed on Georgia, Azerbaijan, Moldova or other countries. Igor Karpenko stressed that any attempts to limit Belarus’ participation in EuroNest are a manifestation of the double standards policy and directly contradict the Prague declaration on launching the Eastern Partnership Initiative. The document stipulates no conditions or limitations regarding the future parliamentary body – EuroNest. Igor Karpenko reminded that speakers of the parliaments of six states, which are partners of Belarus, have univocally spoken in favor of Belarus’ full-fledged participation in EuroNest without any restrictions. Without Belarus EuroNest will fundamentally contradict the Prague declaration, Igor Karpenko believes. In his words, there is still time till 3 May. Belarus intends to take certain steps to change the situation but the Belarusian MP did not disclose them.

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