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Resolution adopted at pro-government May Day rally calls for "lifting all restrictions" in cooperation with EU

 

A resolution adopted at a May Day rally held by the pro-government Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus (FTUB) in Minsk called for "lifting all restrictions in cooperation between the European Union and the Republic of Belarus" and welcomed the establishment of the Customs Union and the Common Economic Zone of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia.

The text of the resolution was posted on the FTUB's website on Thursday.

The resolution praised Alyaksandr Lukashenka's policy to "further strengthen the socially orientated state" and preserve Belarus' independence, and expressed a positive opinion of Belarus' current economic performance.

At the same time, the resolution urged the Belarusian government to take more active steps to modernize industrial enterprises, create new jobs, secure safe workplace conditions, keep inflation in check, and ensure an increase in wages.

It demanded that FTUB organizations should be preserved at state-owned companies in the event of their privatization.

The FTUB press office claimed that the event had drawn a crowd of some 30,000 people, but reporters estimated that no more than 10,000 could attend the rally inside Yanka Kupala Park at the center of the Belarusian capital. Many members of the crowd were seen drinking beer or vodka during the event.

Independent trade unions and opposition parties had been banned from holding May Day rallies in Minsk. // BelaPAN