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Rapporteur satisfied with debate on his report in European Parliament

Lithuanian MEP Justas Paleckis expressed satisfaction with Wednesday's debate on his report on the situation in Belarus in the European Parliament.

"The MEPs were very right to say that political prisoners are the number one issue," the European Parliament's rapporteur on Belarus told BelaPAN hours after the report was discussed. "But in my opinion some of them failed to understand that it is not one of the 37 resolutions on human rights abuse in Belarus but rather the first attempt in 19 years not only to assess the situation but also to look at the future strategy toward Belarus, understand what needs to be done to improve the situation."

Mr. Paleckis said that he wanted fellow MEPs and EU officials to speak more about ways of securing changes in Belarus.

He predicted that his report would be approved on September 12, saying that all political groups in the European Parliament had reached consensus on the matter. "Something extraordinary should happen for it not to be approved," he said.

If approved, the report will be sent to the European Commission, as well as to Catherine Ashton, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, the EU Council and EU member states. "These are recommendations for how they should act. Although later at meetings we will be asking them whether they fulfill some recommendation or other, what they have already done and so on," Mr. Paleckis said.