On 15 July the Socialist Fraction of the European Parliament set up a discussion regarding the forthcoming Parliamentary elections in Belarus which brought together EU MPs from various fractions. The Belarusian side was represented by the Leader of the Belarusian Social Democratic Gramada, Stanislau Shushkevich, the Chairman of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Narodnaya Gramada), Mikalay Statkevich, and Volha Kazulina, a daughter of the Chairman of the Belarusian Social Democratic Party (Gramada), Aliaksandr Kazulin.

The press service of the Socialistic Fraction reported that the EU MPs considered it crucial to make an attempt to visit Belarus in the course of the ‘elections’ in order to “demonstrate their support to the democratic opposition”.

Previously the Head of the European Commission Office in Minsk, Jean-Erick Holzapfel, said in an interview with BelaPAN that the European Parliament was not monitoring elections officially, however, some European MPs could observe election campaigns individually on their own initiative in a country of their choice.