Within her visit to Belgium, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya held meetings with the leadership of the European Parliament and the European Commission, the President of Flanders, the Belgian Foreign Minister, the speakers of the Czech, Lithuanian, and Cypriot Parliaments and a number of MEPs. She also met with the Belarusian diaspora in Brussels. During her visit, Ms. Tsikhanouskaya spoke at the prestigious European Policy Center (EPC) and met with Politico editors.
The key results of the visit are as follows:
- Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya launched the Mission for Democratic Belarus in Brussels and appointed Vladzimir Astapenka to head it.
- With the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, Ms. Tsikhanouskaya agreed to find a special format for the relations between the European Parliament and the United Transitional Cabinet, as well as hold a letter-writing campaign for political prisoners. They discussed a campaign in support of political prisoners.
- At the meeting with Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya discussed increasing EU assistance to Belarusian human rights defenders, independent media, business and culture initiatives in 2023.
- EU ministers invited Ms. Tsikhanouskaya to address the EU Council of Ministers on November 14 this year. They will also consider sanctions against the Lukashenka regime (in a separate package from Russia).
- Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya arranged with MEPs that at the Euronest meeting to be held in Moldova, Belarus will be represented by a delegation of democratic forces, not the regime. They also agreed to hold an event in support of repressed activists of trade unions and workers in the European Parliament.
- Belarus will remain a part of Eastern Partnership programs and will be represented by democratic forces. Belarusian NGOs will have access to support programs.
- The Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs stated that Belgium will continue to support independent media in Belarus. Hadja Lahbib and Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya discussed the status of the Mission for Democratic Belarus Brussels, as well as the cooperation of the Belgian government with Belarusian diaspora.
- The President of the Cypriot Parliament invited Ms. Tsikhanouskaya to Cyprus on an official visit. Annita Demetriou will also consider accepting children from repressed families for rehabilitation (as done in Italy and Norway) and will urge Cypriot MPs to take patronage over Belarusian political prisoners.
“This is an important and timely visit. I talked about political prisoners at every meeting – they must not be forgotten”, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya commented on the visit.
