Maszkiewicz: “Tusk will hardly want to visit Sidorski”

Civic Platform is winning the early parliamentary elections in Poland. In the view of Mariusz Maszkiewicz, the former Polish ambassador in Minsk, this will not change much for Belarus.

“As regards the Polish foreign policy towards Belarus, there will be no changes. The tactics, developed two years ago, will be continued. There could only be some insignificant non-strategic changes which will depend on the personality of a new foreign minister”.

International commentator Roman Yakovlevski is confident that Poland as a member state of the European Union will stick to a common European strategy in its foreign policy towards Belarus.

“Poland is not a presidential republic. It is a parliamentary-presidential republic. Nevertheless, its foreign policy is controlled by the president. Regarding the relations with Belarus, I would like to stress that Poland as an EU member must follow the common declared policies. The policy is formulated in the so called 12 proposals, which Belarus is expected to meet”.

It is worth noting that Poland’s potential PM Donald Tusk is on Belarus’s entry ban list. In December 2006, he was denied entry to this country, when he was supposed to visit the Polish minority in Belarus. Mr. Maszkievicz told the European Radio for Belarus that many Polish officials are banned from traveling to Belarus.

“Donal Tusk visited Belarus once. During the second occasion, he was not allowed. I am banned, either, just like many other Polish officials. After all, I don’t think that Tusk will want to come to visit (Belarus PM) Sidorski”.

The Belarus’s foreign ministry has declined a comment on the entry ban for Donald Tusk.

Bogdan Klich, Civic Platform’s member of the European Parliament, also said in an interview with the European Radio for Belarus, that Poland’s foreign policy towards Belarus would not change. Mr. Klich confirmed that the Kalinowski scholarship program for repressed Belarusian students would be extended.

“I am convinced that the programs aimed at supporting a civil society in Belarus will be continued in the future”.