Hungarian Ambassador: “Why Euroradio, why Belsat?”

The Ambassador of Hungary, the country presiding in the Council of the EU in the first half of 2011starting from January 1, described the priorities of the Hungarian policy and assessed the events in Belarus at a press conference in Minsk on Wednesday.

Ferenc Kontra: "All the events that occurred on December 19 came as a surprise – the election that did not correspond to the OSCE standards and the dispersal of the peaceful demonstration. It is difficult to comprehend why the Belarusian authorities slammed the door, so to say”. 

Ferenc Kontra reminded about the special statement made by Catherine Ashton and Hillary Clinton on December 19 where they had expressed the position of the EU and USA concerning Belarus. Furthermore, the Foreign Ministers of Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic and Sweden also made a joint statement. It means there is no need for the EU Ambassadors to make any statements now. However, the Ambassador noted that they had already sent two notes to the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Ferenc Kontra: "The diplomatic note expresses our anxiety about the situation and the state of health of the arrested people including former presidential candidates.  We have asked to be allowed to meet them to get precise information about their state of health before the discussion of the Belarusian issue in Brussels”. 

The Ambassador also mentioned the actions of the Belarusian security agencies and special police troops directed against journalists.

Ferenc Kontra: “As far as we understand, quite a lot of local and foreign journalists were arrested on December 19 together with participants of the peaceful demonstration.  It is not clear what they are guilty of. The European Union attaches a lot of importance to the principles of the freedom of speech and the press. How are “Belsat” and “European Radio for Belarus” connected with it? Have they violated any laws or what?.. There are two journalists who seem to have been imprisoned for the things they wrote…”[a journalist of “Novaya Gazeta” Iryna Halip and the editor of the website “Charter’97” Natallya Radzina accused of the organization of “mass disorders” are meant here – Euroradio’s note]”.

Hungarian Ambassador Ferenc Kontra and Jean-Eric Holzapfel, chargé d'affaires of the EU Delegation to Belarus

Let us remind you that the meeting of all the 27 Foreign Ministers of the European Union member states is appointed for January 31. The decision “to freeze” the entrance of Belarusian officials to the EU may be taken there and the list may be expanded. The European Ministers may also consider other sanctions then.

Ferenc Kontra: "I would not like to forestall, but many EU Ministers have suggested imposing such sanctions… There is a list of officials declared personae non gratae but it is frozen at the moment. Of course, it does not correspond to the current situation anymore. Most likely, it will have to be updated. The work is being conducted”. 
In the Ambassador’s opinion, the EU-Belarus relations “are going to change drastically” if new political prisoners appear in the country. Speaking about the Eastern Partnership, Ferenc Kontra stressed that the level of Belarus’ participation in it depended on the Belarusian authorities. According to him, there are certain terms of participation in the programme and those who do not like them will have to drop out.

The Ambassador outlined Hungary’s priorities of the EU presidency – integration of the Gypsy community, a genuine Danube Strategy, steering Croatia's accession talks with the EU and strengthening the Eastern European dimension of the neighbourhood policy and cooperation.