On September 29, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya met in Brussels with the Co-President of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, Sergey Lagodinsky, to discuss the participation of Belarus’s democratic forces in the work of Euronest.
After the 10 seats allocated to Belarus in the PA were frozen in 2020, Belarus’s democratic forces succeeded in restoring access to them, allowing their representatives to attend meetings and speak on Belarus-related issues as guests.
The next goal is to make this participation more systematic and obtain observer status, which would allow the democratic forces to:
- participate in the work of committees;
- attend plenary sessions;
- access other formats of parliamentary work.
Observer status would not include voting rights. However, it would allow representatives of Belarus to become more actively involved in the PA’s work and consistently present the democratic forces’ position.
Work is currently underway on the legal aspects and wording. If an agreement is reached, the decision could be considered at the next Euronest session, scheduled for early next year.
For Belarus, this matters because parliamentary diplomacy is not only about having an opportunity to speak from the podium. It is also about daily work, building contacts with European MPs, and taking part in discussions on decisions that affect the future of the region.
