mr president belarus is so often on our agenda and this is because we care because we want to see a democratic belarus where human rights are respected
i have the impression however that the messages that we send so often to the belarusian authorities are not heard neither those from the european parliament nor those from the european council
the decisions of the council have had no effect so far on the situation in belarus
after a year of very modest progress nineteen december twenty ten became a turning point for belarus
since then the country has been falling into self-isolation this can save the regime for some time but it is at the expense of the future of the belarusian nation
this has to be understood and we will not stop reminding lukashenko and his friends of it
i hope that president lukashenko will take good note of the events in the southern neighbourhood and understand that the only responsible behaviour is democratisation and the social and economic reforms in the country
we in the european parliament will not give up we call for the immediate and unconditional release of all detained protestors and for the dropping of all politically motivated charges
at the same time we still believe that belarus has time to change we are working together with the other five eastern neighbours to find a solution leading to democratisation and to the creation of a situation in belarus where free and fair elections can take place at the end of this year or at the beginning of next year
