Million of signatures for European Union Accession
Activists of the civil campaign “European Belarus” plan to collect a million of signatures of the country citizens in favour of Belarus’ accession to the EU in order to submit them to the European parliament and the Council of Europe.
It is planned to carry out the most active collection of signatures simultaneously with election campaigning. However, even today several dozens thousands of citizens have expressed themselves in favour of the idea of Belarus joining the EU, said one of the participants of the campaign Zmitser Barodnka.
“It could be noted that none of our activists noticed negative attitude of signer to the idea of accession to the European Union by Belarus. People express either their positive attitude or indifferent, but never negative. These signatures are a demonstration of the European choice of the Belarusian nation. And we want this answer of the Belarusian nation to be heard in Europe and the world,” the politician said in an interview to Radio Svaboda.
As said by Mr. Barodka, signatures are collected on domiciliary basis, in the streets and at their working places.
We asked passers-by in Minsk whether they support the idea of Belarus’ accession to the EU:
A young girl: “Essentially yes. It means that Belarus will stand shoulder to shoulder with outer countries, and all countries will be together, not separately. It is easier”.
A man: “I feel sorry for the EU if we join them. A European mentality is needed there, and we have an Asian one”.
A lady: “I think it is possible with time, if we manage. It is possible that there would be some kind of mutual help. Borders would be opened perhaps. It is not bad, I think”.
A young man: “Yes, I want that certainly. It would be prestigious for Belarus. Moreover, we are situated in Europe, and naturally, it must be this way”.
The aim of the long-term campaign is not only to collect signatures, but to carry out outreach work among citizens, another participant of the campaign, Young Front leader Zmitser Dashkevich said.
“Our activists explain to people that Belarus belongs to Europe, and it shouldn’t be proved from the point of view of geography or history. We support introduction of free Schengen visas, so that Belarusian citizens could take part in European integration process personally. It is necessary so that the Belarusians understood that except the eastern vector of development, we also have a different one, which is more promising and more reliable for our country,” the young leader announced.
