Today is the congress of the ruling party of Germany, the Christian Democratic Union. The new chairman of the party, Prime Minister Armin Laschet, won the first digital party leadership election. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya spoke before the announcement of the final results of the party elections, thanking Germany for the support of the Belarusian people.
The German government emphasized that it shares fundamental values – human rights, freedom and democracy – together with its European partners, including Belarusians, represented by Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European People's Party Donald Tusk and chairman of the Bavarian CSU party Markus Söder were among the congress speakers.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s speech:
“Meine Damen und Herren, Ladies and gentlemen,
Thank you for the kind invitation to speak in front of you today. I am grateful for the warm reception I've been given by German leadership during two of my visits to your beautiful country. We appreciate the support you have already provided, for the principled resolution of the Bundestag, for more active engagement of Deutsche Welle in Belarus.
The fight of Belarusians for the ideals of democracy is what inspires me every day. Thousands of Belarusians have been peacefully demonstrating, striking, and protesting in every way they could for the past six months.
By doing so we are building the future of a democratic Belarus based on the rule of law, democracy, and respect for our citizens.
Whatever the outcome of your convention, whoever will be elected to lead your party, I am sure of their commitment to support free and democratic Belarus. I ask you to keep in mind that thousands of Belarusians are fighting for the values that your party convention exemplifies.I wish you a fruitful congress and elections. Danke schön!”.
