Burma's By-Elections Could See Lifting of EU Sanctions

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi told EU parliamentarians on Wednesday that the upcoming by-elections in Burma could be the last hurdle towards the lifting most European Union sanctions. 

 

She said the polls need to be free and fair.

 

Parliamentarians say the sanctions should be lifted incrementally to retain leverage with the civilian government behind unprecedented reforms in the first year in office.

 

EU representatives and foreign ministers have in recent months told Burma's rulers that transparent April 1 polls, which Nobel laureate Suu Kyi will contest, would strengthen their case for having more embargos lifted.  

 

[Robert Goebbels, European Parliamentarian from Luxembourg]:             

"I think that there are no more real hurdles. The (European) ministers of foreign affairs are scheduled to meet in April and I would bet that they would lift them gradually, especially if Aung San Suu Kyi will be elected. That would be a boost to the relations between the European Union and Myanmar."  

            

Goebbels was referring to the European Union's annual review of sanctions, known in Brussels as "restrictive measures," which expire in April, when they will be either renewed, lifted or re-calibrated.  

           

[Robert Goebbels, European Parliamentarian from Luxembourg]:               

"We have to lift those sanctions now and try to help them to build a new economy."

             

A delegation of 11 European legislators made their first trip to Burma and this week met top members of parliament and government officials, including the reform-minded president and former junta general, Thein Sein.

 

Werner Langen, of Germany, who led the delegation, said his group had been assured the polls would be free and fair.  

            

In recent months, Burma's leaders have started engaging with Suu Kyi, whom the former regime kept in detention for a total of 15 years since 1989. 

 

Hundreds of other political prisoners have been freed and ceasefire agreements have been struck with most of the country's ethnic minority rebel groups. 

             

The government has showed extraordinary signs of openness in also easing media censorship and legalizing protests. 

 

[Ivo Belet,  European Parliamentarian from Belgium]:          

"I think we can give them, those who are, the rulers of Myanmar now, of Burma now, we can give them the benefit of the doubt. But it's too early to say, 'Yes, cancel all the sanctions.' It's too early to say that, I suppose." 

 

The European Union has sought to further engagement with Burma by opening a representative office in the country and dramatically boosting its development aid. 

 

It unveilled a 150 million euro (198 million U.S. Dollars), two-year aid package last month worth almost as much as the 173 million euros it has given Burma since 1996. 

             

Suu Kyi met the delegation on Wednesday, and Langen said she gave them a realistic assessment of the developments in the country.     

 

[Werner Langen, Delegation Head, European Parliamentarian from Germany]: 

"We as Europeans honor the decades-long struggle of Suu Kyi, for democracy and human rights and for the basic rights for all people, we only honor this but our judgement [of the elections] will depend on the fact whether those elections will be really democratic after the president has initatied the democratic process. And we hope that the opposition party that she leads will be very successful."

             

Suu Kyi said she had misgivings about the electoral process, as their party faced campaign restrictions.   

 

[Aung San Suu Kyi, Pro-Democracy Leader]:

"There have been a few bumps and pitfalls. We are not very happy with the way in which our right to campaign freely is restricted in some areas, not in too many areas, but still, I think I would hesitate to say that everything is going smoothly, and everything is in line with the basic principles of democratic elections."  

           

However, she agreed with the West's view that the election should be a crucial part of the sanctions reviews.