Paul
Goble
Staunton, March 25 – Anna Kanopatskaya,
one of two opposition deputies in the Belarusian Parliament, says that Minsk
should withdraw from the Union State agreement it has with the Russian
Federation or at the very least place the issue before the Belarusian people by
holding a referendum.
She made this argument on Facebook today
in the near certain knowledge that the Lukashenka regime would never take such
steps. But its appearance underscores just how concerned many Belarusians are
about the Russian threat and the need to take steps to distance their country
from Moscow (facebook.com/anna.kanopatskaya/posts/2100814459967645).
Kanopatskaya’s words thus deserve
attention for that reason if for none other. An informal translation of them
appears below:
“Today, on the anniversary
of the declaration of the Belarusian Peoples Republic, the question of the
preservation of the independence and sovereignty of Belarus under conditions of
the sharp forcing of integration processes within the framework of the uncompleted
project of a Union State has arisen again.
This situation compels
us to think about whether we need such a project. That is even more the case because
there already has been established and function the Eurasian Economic Union in
which several additional countries besides Russia and Belarus are members.
In correspondence
with the norms of this union, the legal code of the Republic of Belarus is occurring,
a common market of goods and services including in the realm of energy resources
is expected. Given this, the project of the
Union State over the course of 20 years has remained a stillborn child.
At first, the
president of Belarus used it for his own political goals. Then, the Union State
was recalled on April 2 each year and in a quite narrow circle of peoples. The project
existed only on paper and in parts of the formal organs it created.
Today, for their political
goals, Russian politicians have begun to use it including to threaten our
country with economic pressure. The fraternal
peoples of Belarus and Russia do not need the Union State as a political
project. And as far as economic integration with Russia is concerned, something
that 83 percent of Belarusians supported in a referendum there exists the Eurasian
Economic Union.
It is possible
that the time has come to put a period on the history of the Union State in
order to forever stop forever the succession of scandals and mutual reproaches
on issues of integration between the leadership of Belarus and Russia, which
again have been taking place in public since the end of last year.
To do this is possible
via a referendum which could be set up either by a petition of 450,000
Belarusians or by the National Assembly or by the president.
Do you support such
an initiative?”
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