24 April 1997       Doc. 7813

ADOC7813

WRITTEN DECLARATION No. 255

on the Union of Russia and Belarus

This written declaration commits only the members who have signed it

      The undersigned, members of the Assembly,

1.       Noting that

      a. On 2 April 1997 in Moscow the heads of the two states signed a treaty on the union between Belarus and Russia and initialled the draft Union Charter and adopted a Memorandum of Understanding on the issue of finalising and adopting that document;

      b. The Treaty is based on historic links between Russia and Belarus, feelings of friendship and affinity of the two peoples and their will toward further closeness expressed in the results of the May 1995 referendum in the Republic of Belarus and October 1995 resolutions of the Chambers of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation. This document develops the provisions of the Treaty on establishing a Community of Russia and Belarus of 2 April 1996 and corresponds to the basis of the constitutional regime of Russia and Belarus and generally recognised principles and norms of international law;

      c. Article 1 of the Treaty stresses that the Community of Russia and Belarus is being transformed into the Union. Each member state of the Union maintains state sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, Constitution, national flag, armories and other attributes of statehood;

      d. In the opinion of the participants in the Treaty, the efforts of brother nations towards unification is not only dictated by historic necessity, common destinies, spiritual proximity but also clearly defined economic requirements especially taking into account the interdependence and intercompatibility of the economics of Russia and Belarus. The Treaty corresponds to the requirements of time and is placed in the mainstream of global integration processes;

      e. Open to other countries, the Treaty serves the interests of strengthening integration mechanisms within the Commonwealth of Independent States. The Union is not aimed against any other states or their communities;

      f. Presently a popular discussion on the draft Union Charter is under way in Russia and Belarus, whose results should be reviewed at the joint commission by 20 May 1997;

2.       Call upon the parliamentarians and the Council of Europe Assembly:

      i.       to see the integration of Russia and Belarus as a positive process that corresponds to the interests of people of the two countries and contributes to the strengthening there of democracy and human rights and development;

      ii.       to renew political dialogue with Belarus by the Council of Europe in order to create conditions that would allow the parliament of this country to regain the status of special guest with the Parliamentary Assembly and to continue the procedure of Belarus accession to the Council of Europe;

      iii.       to hold for this purpose a seminar of the Council of Europe in Minsk with the representatives of various public and political forces of that country.

Signed: 1

Christodoulides, Cyprus, UEL

Bogomolov, Russia, UEL

Chyzh, Ukraine, UEL

Filimonov, Russia, UEL

Glotov, Russia, UEL

Jirousova, Czech Republic, UEL

Marmazov, Ukraine, UEL

Melnikov, Ukraine, UEL

Oleinik, Russia, UEL

Rakhansky, Ukraine, UEL

Savitsky, Russia, UEL

Sudarenkov, Russia, SOC

Volodin, Russia, UEL

Ziuganov, Russia, UEL

Korakas, Greece, UEL

Dzasokhov, Russia, SOC

Zhebrovsky, Russia, NR

Kostiutkin, Russia, NR

Vishnyakov, Russia, NR

______________

Total = 19

1 ¹       SOC : Socialist Group

      EPP : Group of the European People's Party

      EDG : European Democratic Group

      LDR : Liberal, Democratic and Reformers Group

      UEL : Group of the Unified European Left

      NR : not registered in a group