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This is how Germany wants to help the Belarusian opposition
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Undaunted: Lukashenko’s opponents take to the streets again and again
Quelle: ap / dpa
The protests against dictator Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus have been going on for more than 80 days. Now the Bundestag is deciding on a package of measures to support the opposition, it could be innovative for Europe.
WOpposition leader Svetlana Tichanovskaya, exiled from Belarus, is presenting herself these days as the elected president of her country. A few hours after the terrorist attack in Vienna, he expressed his condolences to Austria on his Telegram channel on behalf of his compatriots. Almost as if she was sitting in the presidential palace in Minsk. It couldn’t be further from the truth. The autocrat Alexander Lukashenko is even increasing the pressure on those who have taken tens of thousands against him for almost three months. Opposition students and teachers are now forced to withdraw or fire.
Brutal arrests, torture in custody as evidenced by the numerous statements of the victims, the use of stun grenades and water cannons – this is common in Belarus. Recently, protesters have been charged in accordance with the criminal code: instead of fines and a maximum of two weeks of arrest, they now face up to three years in prison. Only after the protest last Sunday, 230 people were prosecuted.
Lukashenko recently appointed former Minsk police chief Ivan Kubrakov as the new interior minister. Kubrakow is on the EU and US sanctions lists. But previous punitive measures against the Belarusian leadership and those responsible for state violence in the streets are not enough, according to German parliamentarians.
The Bundestag will now pass a motion on the Belarus issue on Wednesday. The preliminary document, the content of which will in all likelihood be accepted, is before WELT. It does not recognize the result of the August 9 elections, it calls for sanctions against Lukashenko and the people around him, as well as support – including financial support – for Belarusian civil society, the politically persecuted and the opposition, including the coordination council of the opposition. Its members, especially Tichanovskaya, are in exile.
A historic application for the EU
This last point in particular is remarkable, because it clearly places the Bundestag on the side of the opposition. The catalog of measures to be adopted is also specific in terms of the aid to be provided, and the actors are named.
The application could lead the way in the EU to confront the Belarusian opposition. With its acceptance, it would be up to the federal government to implement it. The first steps would be the support for the independent media in Belarus and the Belarusian media in exile, the introduction of scholarship programs for students and academics, and last but not least visa waiver for Belarusians.
For a long time, the EU could not agree on sanctions against the leaders in Minsk. The group of doubting EU members would now leave Germany with the acceptance and implementation of the Belarus proposal and would position itself as the largest critical member of the community along with Lithuania and Poland.
Both countries called for sanctions against the Lukashenko regime from the beginning. Governments also supported the opposition not only rhetorically, but actively. Lithuania, for example, offered protection to Tichanovskaya, Poland is home to several members of the Belarusian opposition and provides financial resources. In addition, the Belarusian opposition channel Nexta broadcasts from Warsaw.
Therefore, the motion of the Bundestag explicitly mentions support for Lithuania and Poland in their efforts towards the Belarusian opposition.
The intergroup proposal of the parliamentary group of the Union, the SPD and the Greens dates back to an initiative of the Greens. The project was promoted by deputy Manuel Sarrazin, spokesman for Eastern Europe policy and member of the EU and Foreign Affairs Committee. In the CDU and the SPD, the initiative was adopted by MPs Johann Wadephul and Nils Schmid.
The AfD, the Left Party and the FDP did not participate in drafting the request. However, when asked by WELT, Renata Alt, a FDP MP and also a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said that she welcomed the fact that the situation in Belarus was now back on the agenda of the German Bundestag.
“Almost three months after the protests began, the grand coalition now files a motion demanding what could have been done in August, namely the democratic opposition in Belarus with proactive offers of asylum to activists and humanitarian aid to support the victims of police violence, ”Alt said. You don’t go far enough. Therefore, the parliamentary group of the FDP would like to present its own proposal. He also called for the expansion of the Belarusian editorial team at Deutsche Welle, for example.
