Press Release: Commission to support independent broadcasting in Belarus

The European Commission on 23 August 2005 decided to grant a €138.000 contract to Deutsche Welle Radio to broadcast via radio and Internet into Belarus. These programmes were planned to be in an initial stage primarily in Russian, one of the state languages of Belarus, though it was also planned to provide content in Belarusian in the future. With this measure, the Commission was hoping to increase the awareness of the Belarusian population about democracy, pluralism, the rule of law, freedom of press and human rights. Broadcasting was to take place over 12 months from 1 November 2005. The European Commission was the first donor to carry out this type of activity in support of human rights and freedom of expression in Belarus.