Members of the Parliament of Finland harshly criticised remarks of the Finnish foreign minister, chairman-in-office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Alexander Stubb, who visited Minsk on October 7, BelaPAN reports referring to Finnish Helsingin Sanomat.
On October 9, A. Stubb was questioned by the Finnish MPs. In particular, he insisted that the main message that he had tried to convey during the visit was that the recent parliamentary elections in Belarus were neither free nor fair. Besides, the Finnish foreign minister called for the abolition of the death penalty and for “parties, the media, and non-governmental organisations need to be given more freedom”.
As for suggestions that he was trying to placate Russia, unsatisfied with his activity in the OSCE, Stubb said that it is “terribly hard to sign on” to such a notion. The minister noted that Belarus had let OSCE “observers into the country, in addition, election campaigning was slightly more open than before”.
According to A. Stubb, “the OSCE has decided not to try to isolate Belarus, but rather to engage in conditional cooperation with the country”.
Speaking about his talks with Alyaksandr Lukashenka, the Finnish minister noted that when he started criticising the country’s treatment of the opposition, and the existence of the death penalty, “the TV cameras were immediately removed”.
While talking to reporters during his visit to Minsk, Mr. Stubb said that “it is time to start looking at Belarus’ role in the international community and its engagement in Europe from a different perspective. What we are starting to see is the first steps in the right direction.”
The OSCE chairman-in-office said he “had never believed in isolation, only in cooperation”. According to him, his talks with Foreign Minister Syarhei Martynau and Alyaksandr Lukashenka were “positive and fruitful”. “Their basic message was to turn the page in the history of bilateral relations, A. Stubb said.
Source: Charter 97 Press Center, October. 15, 2008
This article appeared in
Belarusian Review, Vol. 20, No. 4
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15 january 2009
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