Belarus will insist on getting the same rights while taking part in the Eastern Partnership Parliament Assembly EURONEST, BelTA learnt from Sergei Maskevich, Chairman of the House of Representatives’ permanent commission for international affairs and links with the CIS.
"We are interested only in the equal participation in the EURONEST. We will insist that the Belarusian delegation consists only of representatives of the National Assembly and that the number of delegates will be the same as in the delegations of the other Eastern European countries," the deputy said. He underlined that Belarusian parliamentarians are ready to actively work in the EURONEST, but only as official members of the assembly, not observers.
According to Sergei Maskevich, the deputies of the National Assembly state their position at all the official events of the European Partnership they take part in. This topic was discussed at the session of a task group to form the EURONEST in Brussels in January. A similar statement will be made at the forthcoming meeting of the heads of parliamentary committees for international affairs of the Visegrad Group (the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland) and six European Partnership member states (Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia). It will be held in Budapest on 24 February. Belarus is most likely to be represented by Sergei Maskevich and Nina Mazai, Chairman of the Council of the Republic’s permanent commission for international affairs and national security.
As for the equal representation of the opposition and the National Assembly in the Belarusian delegation suggested by the European Parliament, Sergei Maskevich said, "The European Parliament does not have official relations with the Belarusian parliament; it has not received any official proposals and statements from the European Parliament."
