Vol. 476 No. 5
37 Mr. Moynihan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will inform Dáil Éireann of the nature of the recommendations of the fact finding mission to Belarus from 26 to 30 January 1997; the Belarussian Government's reaction to the recommendations contained therein; and the progress, if any, being made by the EU in drawing up operational conclusions to implement the recommendations. [7459/97]
The European Union is seriously concerned at the situation in Belarus arising out of the Constitutional referendum of November 1996. The Deputy will recall that the Taoiseach met President Lukashenko en marge of the OSCE Summit in Lisbon on 3 December 1996, and that he strongly expressed the Union's concerns on that occasion. During this meeting, the Taoiseach suggested that the EU send a fact-finding mission to Belarus to assess the situation there in the aftermath of the referendum. This mission visited Belarus from 26-31 January last. It was mandated to obtain all the relevant facts pertaining to the constitutional referendum, to assess the procedures of the new bicameral legislature established by President Lukashenko and to assess the relationships between the executive, legislature and judiciary against the accepted standards of separation of powers. It was led by Mr. Kosto, a former Minister for Justice of the Netherlands, and also comprised representatives of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Council of Europe. The mission held meetings with Government, including two lengthy meetings with President Lukashenko, opposition, including discussions with members of the Parliament dissolved by President Lukashenko, non-governmental organisations and members of the diplomatic community.
The report of the fact-finding mission was presented to the General Affairs Council on 24 February and Ministers had a detailed discussion of its recommendations. These recommendations included the questions of the legality of the referendum process, and of the new bicameral legislature as well as freedom of the media. The report was critical of the conduct of the referendum, and criticised the concentration of power in the hands of the President. Ministers adopted a series of conclusions calling, inter alia, on Belarus to accept the report of the fact-finding mission, and to adopt appropriate measures to ensure respect for accepted standards of separation of powers.
The report of the fact-finding mission and the conclusions of the General Affairs Council were presented to President Lukashenko on 3 March. The European Union is now awaiting the response of the Belarussian authorities to the report and the conclusions. In the interests of ongoing dialogue with the Belarussion authorities, it has been agreed not to publish either the report or the conclusions until that response has been received. I assure the Deputy that both the report and the conclusions of the General Affairs Council will be placed in the Dáil Library at the earliest possible date.
