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Belarus ties with European Parliament quite tense, lawmaker says

Belarus’ relations with the European Parliament are "quite tense," lawmaker Syarhey Maskevich said when meeting in Minsk on Friday with Lithuania’s MEP Viktor Uspaskich who has recently been stripped by the Parliament of legal immunity, BelaPAN reports.

“Our political relations are clearly far below the level that economic entities would like to see,” said Mr. Maskevich, who chairs the standing committee on international affairs and relations within the CIS in the House of Representatives (lower parliamentary house) of the Belarusian National Assembly.

Mr. Maskevich also emphasized the need to step up parliamentary ties between Belarus and Lithuania. The two parliaments should establish the “friendliest relations possible,” he said.

Mr. Uspaskich criticized European politicians for what he called their insufficiently deep views about how Belarus lives.
He said that he was set to draw up a report on Belarus as a result of his visit.

On September 7, the European Parliament scrapped Mr. Uspaskich’s legal immunity. The Russian-born politician, who is the founder of Lithuania’s Labor Party, was sought by the Lithuanian Prosecutor General’s Office since July 2009 for prosecution on tax evasion charges.