Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2010-06-15-Speech-2-526"
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"en.20100615.31.2-526"2
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"In response to the important and topical question from Ms Andrikienė, let me say that the Commission is fully aware of all the violations of the democratic principles and procedures which have been reported by a number of NGOs in the context of the local elections in Belarus. The European Union’s heads of mission in Minsk have also pointed to inconsistencies and indeed discrepancies, in particular, in the ballot counting.
Some amendments were made, ahead of the elections, to the Belarus electoral code. According to the opinion of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, which was issued on 3 June 2010, this represented, and I quote, ‘a step towards removing some flaws’ in the electoral code. However, the report states that these amendments are unlikely to resolve the concerns that the electoral code continues to fall short of genuinely democratic elections.
In the light of this, during the visit I intend to pay to Minsk in July, I will convey to the authorities the clear message that progress needs to be made in a number of areas which are key to democratisation if Belarus is serious about re-engaging with the European Union.
One of these areas is electoral legislation, which is one of the most evident tests of democratic standards. In this respect, I will urge Minsk to continue to cooperate with the OSCE order on the reform of the electoral code ahead of the next presidential elections. In the run up to these elections, the Commission will also pay particular attention to other key aspects of democratisation, notably freedom of assembly, of the media and of NGOs and civil society, more generally, where no progress has been reported in recent times."@en1
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