PACE has no unity over return of Belarus parliament

There are different views at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) over the return of the special-guest status to the Belarusian parliament, PACE's Belarus Subcommittee Chairman Sinikka Hurskainen said in a statement. At the same time, calls for the isolation of the Belarusian authorities can be heard more and more seldom, she noted. The Belapan news agency reports this statement was made on June 10 in Brdo, Slovenia at the meeting of the permanent committee of the Council of Europe's Congress of Local and Regional Authorities.

Hurskainen also reminded that at a plenary session on June 10 PACE will hear a report by Andrea Rigoni, PACE's Special Rapporteur on Belarus who proposes to return the special-guest status to the Belarusian parliament. The PACE official noted that the return of the special-guest status to the parliament of Belarus "is a dialogue's departure point not the end of the road".