Representatives of Belarus were absent from the inaugural conference held by the EU-Neighborhood East Parliamentary Assembly (EURONEST PA) in Brussels on May 3, said BelaPAN . The decision to hold the conference without representatives of Belarus was made unanimously by the leaders of the political groups in the European Parliament at a meeting in February this year.
Belarusian parliamentarians received with regret the results of the Assembly in Brussels, during which representatives of all member-countries of the "Eastern Partnership," but for Belarus, established Euronest.
"Established Parliamentary Assembly Euronest actually turns into an instrument of political pressure that does not meet the stated objectives of cooperation embodied in the Prague Declaration. In this regard, the National Assembly of the Republic of Belarus does not consider itself obliged to consider or take into account its position," says Statement of Parliament of Belarus.
Nevertheless, the Parliament noted that the National Assembly of Belarus is open to dialogue with the European Parliament, but only on condition that this dialogue will be "constructively directed and built on mutual respect and true partnership basis."
The Inter-Parliamentary Assembly Euronest was established on May 3, 2011. Boris Tarasyuk from "Eastern Partnership" (Ukraine) and Christian Vigenin from the European Parliament became co-presidents. Constituent meeting took place in Brussels with the participation of delegations of all Euronest member-countries except Belarus. The participants stressed in their speeches that this situation is temporary and depends on the democratic processes in Belarus.
Initially scheduled for late March 2010, the EURONEST PA's inaugural conference was postponed for more than a year because of differences of opinion regarding the composition of the Belarusian delegation.
The EURONEST PA was expected to consist of 60 members of the European Parliament and a 10-member delegation from each of the six post-Soviet states participating in the European Union's Eastern Partnership program, namely Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.
Five of the six delegations would consist of members of Parliament, but no decision so far has been made as to who will be on the Belarusian delegation, as the Belarusian legislature is widely believed to have been formed in a way that was far from democratic standards.
Many European politicians have suggested that opposition forces should necessarily be represented in the Belarusian delegation to the Assembly.
The Belarusian authorities have rejected a composition formula whereby the country’s delegation to the EURONEST PA would include five members of the House of Representatives and five opposition politicians.
