“We are linked by more than ten-year history of partnership and cooperation with the European People’s Party. We are proud to share the values and vision of this family of parties,” said MFF Chairman Yuri Hubarevich at the meeting in Helsinki.
According to him, “In this difficult time of instability in Eastern Europe, we need – perhaps more than ever before – to feel the support of the EPP family in our struggle for peaceful democratic change in Belarus.”
“Observer status, above all, gives the opportunity for deeper cooperation both with the EPP and with the partner parties throughout Europe. We will be able to more effectively raise the Belarusian issue at the EPP meetings and to draw more attention to the repressions and potential persecution of activists and politicians in Belarus,” commented Hubarevich on the EPP’s decision.
In addition, stressed the MFF Chairman, this means new opportunities for MFF members in the form of participation in a wider range of educational and expert events. “It is good that this decision was made on the eve of the presidential and parliamentary campaigns. This will strengthen both the position of the Centre-Right Coalition (since the MFF was the only of its entities that had no official status in the EPP) and our joint work,” concluded Hubarevich.
The European People’s Party is one of the largest parties in Europe, consisting of centre-right parties from different countries of the European continent. The EPP includes 16 heads of governments of EU member states and 6 heads of governments of countries outside the EU, 13 members of the European Commission, President of the European Council, President of the European Parliament, and the largest faction in the European Parliament. Two other Belarusian organisations also having observer status in the EPP are the United Civil Party (UCP) and the Belarusian Christian Democracy (BCD) party.
