Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 26 February (BelTA) – Belarus can count on the full-fledged participation in European institutions, Chairman of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus Mikhail Myasnikovich said as he met with Andrea Rigoni, rapporteur on Belarus of the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), BelTA has learned.

“As a European state Belarus can count on the full-fledged work in European associations, and, of course, a lot will depend on your position and report. In addition, I would like to mention your constructive approach as a rapporteur. We are satisfied with your statements about the readiness to unfreeze the relations of PACE with the National Assembly of Belarus,” Mikhail Myasnikovich told the rapporteur.

The speaker suggested working out a roadmap of further cooperation. He remarked that it would be great to invite Belarusian MPs for the PACE session and added that Andrea Rigoni could initiate such an invitation for the April session of the assembly. “Perhaps, when discussing various issues European MPs would be interested in the opinion of the Belarusian side on such issues as human trafficking, abuse of women, protection of children because these are topical issues on the European agenda today. Apart from that, in our opinion, the relations of PACE with the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly are important,” the chairman of the Council of the Republic stressed.

He noted that the work of the information center of the Council of Europe in Minsk is increasingly vibrant. “We praise this fact, but the life does not stand still, and we should do our best to make more progress,” Mikhail Myasnikovich said.

Besides, the interaction between the congress of local and regional authorities of the Council of Europe and the Belarusian council for cooperation between local authorities under the aegis of the Council of the Republic is also high on the agenda. “We have discussed the holding of seminars on this issue in Belarus in May-June 2015, and we confirm the readiness to hold them,” the speaker added.

Speaking about Belarus’ joining the convention block of the Council of Europe which has not been allowed yet, Mikhail Myasnikovich believes that it would be great to step up efforts to harmonize the Belarusian legislation with the standards of the Council of Europe. “It has an applied rather than political value for us because it is important to take into account the opinions of the Council of Europe when conducting internal transformations,” the chairman of the Council of the Republic explained.