POLAND/BELGIUM: Poland urges EU to increase pressure on Belarus to end a crackdown on its ethnic Polish minority

Record ID: 731370

  • Title: POLAND/BELGIUM: Poland urges EU to increase pressure on Belarus to end a crackdown on its ethnic Polish minority
  • Date: 22nd February 2010
  • Summary: WARSAW, POLAND (FEBRUARY 22, 2010) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PRESIDENTIAL PALACE HEAD OF POLISH MINORITY IN BELARUS ANDZELIKA BORYS ARRIVING CLOSE BORYS POLISH PRESIDENT LECH KACZYNSKI GREETING BORYS KACZYNSKI AND BORYS KACZYNSKI AND BORYS ARRIVE FOR STATEMENTS (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) POLISH PRESIDENT LECH KACZYNSKI, SAYING: "What is being done to the Polish minority in Belarus, is mostly a matter for my country. But it's also a matter of solidarity among the whole European Union. And I would like to count on this - that the Union will show solidarity on this matter. Poland is not only protecting it's countrymen, Poland is protecting principles." KACZYNSKI AND BORYS GIVING STATEMENTS (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) HEAD OF POLISH MINORITY IN BELARUS ANDZELIKA BORYS, SAYING: "In 2005 we were accused that the evil Poland wants to use us for a revolution, to make another Kosovo. Today we are being accused of being the evil minority, the Poles who want to ruin the Belarussian authorities' dialogue with Europe." BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (FEBRUARY 22, 2010) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF EUROPEAN COUNCIL POLAND FOREIGN MINISTER RADOSLAW SIKORSKI ARRIVING, LIMPING (SOUNDBITE) (English) RADOSLAW SIKORSKI, POLAND FOREIGN MINISTER, SAYING: ''It's about the right to conduct autonomous, cultural and citizen activity and this is something that we as Europe are not neutral about. We, we think that country that aspires to play an important role in the neighbourhood policy need to make strides towards our standards of treating minorities and therefore I will talk to colleagues here and ask them for solidarity in helping to make Belarus realise what important opportunities Belarus may pass up if she continues the policy of persecution. There is still time for Belarus to to step back and I hope that happens." JOURNALISTS AND CAMERAMEN (SOUNDBITE) (English) RADOSLAW SIKORSKI, POLAND FOREIGN MINISTER, SAYING: "I think we should continue and strengthen our policy of conditionality towards Belarus, which is to say that Belarus may aspire to join various western institutions, provided there is improvement in the treatment of human rights, national minorities and the opposition. We have recently have a regrettable setback and persecution of the Polish minority." EU FLAGS OUTSIDE EU COUNCIL
  • Embargoed: 9th March 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations,European Union
  • Reuters ID: LVACAHXCSRTXM2TRM4GMT1XKFTAJ
  • Story Text: Poland urges EU ministers to increase pressure on Belarus to end a crackdown on its ethnic Polish minority, hinting that Minsk's hopes of ending its international isolation could be at stake.
    Poland urged the European Union on Monday (February 22) to help persuade Belarus to end a crackdown on its ethnic Polish minority and suggested Minsk's hopes of ending its international isolation could be at stake.
    After meeting the head of the Polish minority in Belarus Andzelika Borys, Polish President Lech Kaczynski said he expects solidarity among European Union members on the issue.
    "What is being done to the Polish minority in Belarus, is mostly a matter for my country. But it's also a matter of solidarity among the whole European Union," Kaczynski said in a statement after the meeting in Warsaw.
    "And I would like to count on this - that the Union will show solidarity on this matter. Poland is not only protecting it's countrymen, Poland is protecting principles," he added.
    Borys said that that Poles in Belarus were being ostracised from every side.
    "In 2005 we were accused that the evil Poland wants to use us for a revolution, to make another Kosovo," Andzelika Borys said.
    "Today we are being accused of being the evil minority, the Poles who want to ruin the Belarussian authority's dialogue with Europe."
    The EU condemned the arrests last week, saying they undermined efforts to strengthen relations with Belarus.
    In Brussels, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski urged EU foreign ministers to increase pressure on Belarus over its human rights record after the detention of dozens of dozens of ethnic Polish activists.
    ''It's about the right to conduct autonomous, cultural and citizen activity and this is something that we in Europe are not neutral about. We, we think that country that aspires to play an important role in the neighbourhood policy need to make strides towards our standards of treating minorities and therefore I will talk to colleagues here and ask them for solidarity in helping to make Belarus realise what important opportunities Belarus may pass up if she continues the policy of persecution,'' Sikorski said as he arrived for the regular meeting of EU foreign affairs ministers.
    There is still time for Belarus to to step back and I hope that happens," Sikorski added.
    Warsaw recalled its ambassador from Minsk last week after police seized a building used by the Union of Poles, an organisation which split in 2005 into a branch supporting President Alexander Lukashenko and an opposition movement.
    Police have also detained a number of Union of Poles activists, some of them during a protest rally last week, and Minsk has accused Polish media of "indulging in an anti-Belarussian campaign".
    The EU condemned the arrests of ethnic Poles and other civil society activists last week, saying they undermined efforts to strengthen relations with Belarus.
    Belarus has long been long ostracised in the West over its suppression of dissent but, hoping to improve ties and reduce its economic dependence on Russia, Minsk has sought to improve its human rights record and freed some political prisoners.
    Further damage to its human rights record could have an impact on Belarus's hopes of joining the World Trade Organisation and boosting trade with the West, diplomats say.
    The EU prolonged a freeze on restrictions against Belarus, including a visa ban against Lukashenko, last November as an incentive for it to carry out further reforms.
    Poland's relations with Belarus have soured periodically over the treatment of the Polish minority, which numbers about 400,000 people in the country of 10 million.
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