President’s Press Secretary on what Lukashenko offered to EU in 2016: we’ll always publicly talk about it
The President of Belarus advocated a serious pan-European dialogue, which was very much in demand in 2016 – as noted by Natalya Eismont, the Press Secretary of Aleksandr Lukashenko, in her talk with the Belarus 1 TV channel, BelTA reports
On November 21st, 2016, Belarus’ President Aleksandr Lukashenko held a meeting with a delegation of the Political and Security Committee of the Council of the European Union. “In order to improve the atmosphere of mutual relations between the states, we can think about the renewal of the Helsinki process and launch a peacekeeping process, possibly, the Minsk process,” the Belarusian leader suggested during the meeting. In other words, Aleksandr Lukashenko already then stated the need to create a new system of European security.
“It was discussed quite seriously on the side-lines; the then Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei told us about this. He was very deeply immersed in all these processes. Why not discuss it? The President advocated such a serious pan-European dialogue, speaking in favour of strengthening security measures, trust and co-operation. And all this was very much in demand at that time,” Natalya Eismont said.
Aleksandr Lukashenko’s Press Secretary noted that restarting this process was a vital necessity at that time, “Our country has always advocated and promoted this initiative very seriously.”
Natalya Eismont considers it an important point that the President spoke about the role of small and medium-sized states in this process. “It was also a much sought-after moment by politicians and experts. Afterwards, the President continued this topic at the World Congress of Russian Press, held in Minsk, involving the expert community in discussing this initiative. Those people whose voices are heard: political scientists, journalists, scientific and cultural figures. The President urged them to get involved in this process, understood their possible role and received a feedback,” she stressed.
The Belarusian leader’s spokesperson drew attention to what Vladimir Makei said at the time, “The absolute majority of participants of those events had a serious and deep response to this initiative. In fact, it was supported by many, if not all. It was just that some could say it publicly, and some could not.”
Natalya Eismont stated that there were and still are people who are not interested in it. That’s why the initiative was not implemented in a serious format. “But we know that Belarus always adheres to those very principles. And, of course, we will always publicly talk about it,” she assured.
