MINSK, 21 October (BelTA) – On his Facebook account Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei supported the concepts outlined by Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki during a recent hearing in the European Parliament. The Belarusian foreign minister drew parallels between the statements of the Polish prime minister and Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko, BelTA informs.
“Friends, I invite you to take a small test. I want to share a few quotes of a contemporary politician who you definitely know. I am fully aware that I might come under fire for that, since I am regularly reproached from different sides for supporting such a political course. But anyway,” the Belarusian foreign minister wrote in the opening lines.
He cited a number of quotes that BelTA publishes unedited.
“…Unfortunately, we still hear about dividing into better and worse. Too often we have a Europe of double standards.”
“The set of rules of the game must be the same for everyone... It is unacceptable to impose one's decisions on others without a legal basis. It is all the more unacceptable to use the language of financial blackmail for this purpose, to talk about penalties, or to use even more far-reaching words… I reject the language of threats, hazing and coercion... I do not agree blackmail to become a method of conducting policy towards a Member State. That's not how democracies do things.”
“Constitutional pluralism means that there is space for dialogue between us, our countries and legal systems…However, there can be no consent to giving instructions and orders to states. This is not what the European Union is about… If we are to work together, we must accept existence of these differences, we must accept them, we must respect each other”;
“We are being paternalistically lectured about democracy, the rule of law, about how we should shape our own homeland, that we are making wrong choices, that we are too immature… This is a fatal course of narrative proposed by some… Penalties, repression of the economically stronger countries against those that are still struggling with the legacy of being on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain – it is not a right path. Penalties, repression of the economically stronger countries against those that are still struggling with the legacy of being on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain – it is not the right path.”
Vladimir Makei concludes that every word said by the Polish prime minister chimes in with numerous statements made by the Belarusian leadership and personally by President Aleksandr Lukashenko who is accused of “authoritarianism” and even “dictatorship”.
“The most important thing is that these words were said by ‘democrat' Morawiecki, Prime Minister of Poland, who addressed the European Parliament. There are, of course, controversial points but in general I would like to wholeheartedly support Mr. Morawiecki in his righteous anger against civilizational blackmail and economic duress. Polish colleagues demonstrate very accurate and, most importantly, timely approaches,” the minister said.
“Against this background, there is no point in even discussing “double standards” or any standards at all, because everything is clear here. Or am I wrong?” he concluded.
