European Parliament approves report of Justas Paleckis on situation in Belarus

MEPs called on the official Minsk to respect human rights and move towards democratic reforms to end the country's self-imposed isolation from Europe.

The document is addressed to the European Commission, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Council of the EU and the member states of the European Union.

Bear in mind that the report, prepared by Lithuanian MEP Justas Paleckis, caused a public outcry in the first reading in May. The representatives of the Belarusian opposition and human rights activists protested because the report indicated an improvement of the human rights situation in Belarus in 2012.

Paleckis responded by saying that the conclusions made were ​​based on the information of the Belarusian human rights defenders. Later around 300 amendments were introduced in the report. And in July, the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament considered it in the second reading and approved it.