BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

10.06.2005 - 17:36 CET

Commission's hands tied over Minsk opposition

By Andrew Rettman

EUOBSERVER / STRASBOURG - The European Commission's own rules of procedure are the main obstacle in stepping up aid to the democratic opposition in Belarus, as the country heads for a potentially explosive confrontation with Alexander Lukashenko's government ahead of the 2006 elections.

"The problem is not the Belarusian regime, but our financial regulations and the open and transparent way in which we have to operate our projects", Raul de Lutzenberger, the former head of the commission's Minsk desk told MEPs in Strasbourg on Thursday (9 June), adding "It's not Belarus that will accuse us of using the money badly, but our own controllers".

Mr de Lutzenberger, who lived in Minsk for four years before moving to lead Brussels' delegation to Moldova, said that any proposals - such as a call by Polish and Lithuanian MEPs to set up independent radio stations on the EU-Belarusian border - must meet strict transparency, auditing, relevance and efficiency criteria before they get the green light.

He noted that the radio station scheme is still at a "preliminary stage" of the vetting process, despite being on the table for several months. "We have to find a way to get around the regulations, to find a way to do this within the regulations, we've tried very hard to do this, but we haven't succeeded yet".

Brussels has earmarked about ?5 million to support civil society - political jargon for NGOs - in Belarus under the TACIS and EIDHR programmes in 2005 and 2006, with the budget set to grow in 2007, but the rules of procedure prevent cash going to physical persons or commercial enterprises.

On top of this, TACIS-sponsored projects must be co-signed by the Minsk regime, while certain EIDHR schemes end up paying taxes to the Lukashenko government in order to survive.

Belarus heading for violence?

The lack of concrete action on the part of the commission stands in contrast to the recent pace of events in Belarus.

"This is the moment for change. Belarusian people are ready for change. This is the first year you really feel it, if you go there", indicated Olga Stuzhinskaya, Brussels coordinator of the Civil Initiative We Remember (Belarus) NGO.

"Our revolution, unlike some others, will involve bloodshed - it depends on how many people come out on the streets", she stated.

Ms Stuzhinskaya pointed out that under Belarusian law the armed forces can legally fire on civilian protestors, adding that while the fragmented opposition movement is aiming to choose a single opposition candidate for the upcoming presidential vote by this October "he won't remain free for very long".

The Belarusian mission to Brussels declined to comment.

Minsk jailed two opposition figureheads, Pawel Siewieriniec and Mikola Statkiewicz, for at least a year each on 31 May on charges of inciting unrest during last October's referendum - the poll claimed that 77 percent of people supported Mr Lukashenko's plan to run for a third term.

The NGO activist urged the EU and the US to focus support on youth and women's groups, while explaining that the opposition movement in Belarus has been driven underground in recent months, lacking the office and IT facilities to fill in European Commission proposal forms in triplicate.

EU approach misses the point

MEPs on the European Parliament's eastern European-dominated Belarus delegation also complained about the assymetrical nature of Brussels' approach to the Belarusian challenge.

"Don't try to use normal ways with an abnormal dictatorship", Lithuanian centre-right member Aldis Kusis told Mr de Lutzenberger at the Strasbourg meeting.

Polish liberal MEP Janusz Onyszkiewicz pointed out that "in Poland, when we were under martial law, there was a long line of support - mostly via church lines and persons of high standing - who could be intermediaries for providing assistance", with the US in particular using creative methods to get the job done.

The parliamentary delegation stressed that there is a danger in external relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner's apparent focus on EU-Russia relations at the expense of Belarus, which has a 1,000 km border with the enlarged European bloc.

"It's not just an internal conflict here, but one that could spread outwards as well, and our actions have not been adequate so far", German christian-democrat MEP Alfred Gomolka indicated.

The leaders of the European Parliament's main political factions reportedly quashed the delegation's appeal to table a Belarusian resolution for this week's plenary as Uzbekistan merited more attention, while Belarus has had three resolutions since October 2004.

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