The meeting of Parliamentary Assembly of the Eastern Partnership (Euronest) is indefinitely postponed due to the differences between the MEPs and parliamentarians of the partner countries of the Eastern Partnership with regard to determining the composition of the Belarusian delegation in Euronest. It was reported by the press service of the EU representation in Belarus on March 30.
«Together with the EU High Representative, Catherine Ashton, and the European Commissioner, Štefan Füle, the European Parliament will prepare a special «road map for reform» for Belarus. The extent of its implementation will be the criterion which determines the level of Belarusian parliament representatives’ involving in Euronest work», the press service reported, BelTA informs.
In the turn, as the chairman of the European Parliament delegation in Euronest, Christian Vigenin, said, the Belarusian issue should not be central for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Eastern Partnership. «We must concentrate on the Eastern Partnership’s essence, particularly, on the parliamentary assessment of this policy», the MEP noted.
According to the tentative agreement, Eastern Partnership parliamentary dimension, Euronest, should include 120 members. 60 members will represent the European Union, and ten members must be nominated by the partner countries of the Eastern Partnership: Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.
However, the European Parliament impugns the legitimacy of the Belarusian parliamentary delegation in the Assembly in the case if it’s represented by the members of the National Assembly of Belarus (since 1996, the European Parliament had no formal contacts with the Belarusian parliament).
Earlier, Belarus was proposed to include five representatives of parliament and five of opposition in its delegation, but the official Minsk did not supported this idea.
