BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

22/10/2007

Communist leader insists he did not represent CR in Belarus

By CTK

Prague, Oct 19 (CTK) - Czech junior opposition Communist (KSCM) chairman Vojtech Filip, deputy chairman of the lower house, told CTK Friday he did not represent the Czech Republic but only himself and the KSCM during his trip to Belarus in early October.

The daily Lidove noviny (LN) reported Friday that though Filip paid a "private" visit to Belarus, he met Belarussian parliament and Energy Ministry representatives officially and promised cooperation to them.

However, the stance of Filip is in a sharp contradiction with the Czech Republic's foreign policy. Czech diplomacy does not communicate with the authoritarian regime of Belarussian President Alexandr Lukashenko and supports only local democratic opposition, the paper noted.

"I did not represent the position of the Czech Republic, I only represented those who asked me for it," Filip told CTK.

He said he had, for instance, lobbied in favour of Czech entrepreneurs who run companies in Belarus and have had problems to get visa Belarussian visa.

Regarding his meeting with the Belarussian deputy energy minister, Filip said he was arranging for his visit to the Czech Republic, during which he is to meet representatives of the CEZ power utility and turbine producers.

"Since no-one from the Czech Republic goes there, for known reasons, I have tried to remedy this," Filip said.

Filip's visit to Belarus has disturbed human rights advocates.

The organisations People in Need, Association for International Affairs and Civic Belarus have sent an open letter to Filip saying that his meeting with Belarussian representatives is at variance with the Czech Republic's foreign policy that supports democratic forces in Belarus.

"Such meetings provide political support to the regime that, for its failure to observe human rights, is not a member of the Council of Europe and cannot participate in the European Neighbourhood Policy and the EU foreign programme," the letter writes.

According to LN, the organisations also demand that Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg and Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek deal with Filip's visit to Belarus.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zuzana Opletalova told CTK that the ministry could not prevent Filip from going to Belarus.

"If any misapprehension occurred there, our diplomatic office [in Belarus] will explain it," Opletalova said.

Lower house foreign committee chairman Jan Hamacek (senior opposition Social Democrats, CSSD) told CTK he did not know about Filip's activities in Belarus.

Hamacek said Filip had acted in Belarus as a private person and chairman of a parliamentary party.

Hamacek also said the Chamber of Deputies was not planning to send a parliamentary delegation to Belarus in the near future. He added he could imagine such a trip but only if Czech deputies could also meet democratic opposition representatives, besides official representatives of the Belarussian regime.

The Belarussian media have highlighted Filip's visit as evidence of good and long-term cooperation between both countries' deputies. They reported that Filip had talked about the necessity of bilateral cooperation, and he promised power exports from the Czech Republic to Belarus.

In his statement broadcast by a local TV, Filip also said that other countries must not interfere in Belarus's matters, LN said.

However, the problem is that Filip as a high constitutional official made an impression in Belarus that he presented the Czech Republic'c official position. His behaviour has therefore irritated other Czech deputies, the paper said.

Greens MP Ondrej Liska, who had personally met Belarussian opposition leaders, has sharply criticised Filip's behaviour. "Such visits seriously discredit the Czech Chamber of Deputies," Liska told LN.

The paper said that other EU countries' ambassadors to Belarus also expressed indignation at Filip's visit to Minsk, and this is why the Czech ambassador had to explain that the Czech official foreign political course towards Belarus remained unchanged.

Source:

http://www.praguemonitor.com/en/195/czech_politics/13607/