In a series of debates with EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep BORRELL during the plenary session of the European Parliament in Brussels, MEPs comment on the situation in Belarus. A resolutions will be put to the vote.

Situation in Belarus: extracts from the debate

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SOUNDBITE (English), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative/Vice-President, From our point of view, the rerun of elections on the OECD supervision would be the best solution. But so far, it has been impossible for us to reach out to Belarus authorities at any level. The single-minded determination of Lukashenko to stay in power with the pen and increasingly the support of Moscow makes all this difficult.

SOUNDBITE (English), Josep BORRELL FONTELLES, High Representative/Vice-President, We are committed to strengthening the engagement with the Belarussian people and civil society. President Von Der Leyen announced 53 million allocated to Belarus, funds will have been made immediately available to the victims of violence. We tried to provide support to the independent media.

SOUNDBITE (German), Michael GAHLER (EPP, DE), We called for an end to KGB and police violence. We also call for the release of all political prisoners like Kolesnikova, Tikhanovskaya, Babaryka, etc. There should be no foreign intervention. It should be up to the Belorussians to carry out their democratic revolution according to their own ideas. The Brezhnev doctrine ended with the Warsaw Pact. I call on the Russian President exceptionally to respect the will of the people, people that have not shown any anti-Russian sentiment. That should be an opportunity to gain influence. Violence and repression and intimidation are not the way to proceed.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Iratxe GARC&#205;A P&#201;REZ (S&amp;D, ES), Lukashenko sees feminism as a Western value, which undermines his concept to State. Gender equality has never been on his government's agenda. According to the last report from U.N. Women, Belarus is at the top of the list in terms of female participation in the government. Clearly, the role of women, according to Lukashenko, is to make the world look nice and men need to protect women in the world. No, Mr. Lukashenko, the responsible party of women in government, is to promote the rights of all women and men who are born in equal rights here in the European Union. On our principles, we should listen to the legitimate calls from thousands of women and men who are risking their lives. Their struggle is for freedom, and it's also ours.

SOUNDBITE (French), Dacian CIOLO&#350; (RE, RO), Wednesday, a month after the so-called Presidential elections Svetlana Tikhanovskaya received unknown phone calls and attempts to enter her apartment. The ambassadors of the EU member states, well familiar with what repression means, went immediately to her apartment to afford protection, a strong symbolic gesture which was repeated in the days after. That's the role of Europe, as far as the citizens of Belarus in our neighbourhood are in need: protecting people, protecting freedom of expression and democracy.

Situation in Belarus: extracts from the debate

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EU - Belarus (2019-2020)