Press Release: Commission launches further support for independent broadcasting in Belarus

The European Commission on 9 September 2005 begun preparations for a €2 million project to increase access in Belarus to independent sources of news and information. This followed the €138.000 contract already granted to Deutsche Welle Radio which was to begin broadcasting via radio and Internet on 1 November 2005. Interested broadcasters were given until 11 October 2005 to signal their interest in a new contract for co-production and broadcasting on television and radio in Belarusian and Russian over a period of two years starting on 1 January 2006. The aim was to provide access to independent information about events in Belarus and in the outside world, and to enhance the knowledge of the Belarusian population about democracy, pluralism, rule of law, freedom of the press and human rights.