WARSAW, Poland (AP) – The prime ministers of four central European countries were meeting Friday to discuss the political crisis over a disputed presidential election in Belarus, relations with Russia and fighting COVID-19 as they gear up for a European Union summit later this month.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki was to brief his counterparts from the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary on his talks in Warsaw this week with Belarusian opposition leaders, including opposition presidential candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.
Belarus has seen a month of street protests against the results of the country’s Aug. 9 presidential election, which is widely believed to have been rigged. Official results gave authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko a sixth term with 80% of the vote, but protesters dispute the count and are demanding he step down after 26 years in office.
The prime ministers of Europe’s Visegrad Group nations meeting in Poland’s eastern city of Lublin plan to discuss the best forms of support for Belarusian civic society.
Other subjects on their agenda include fighting the spread of the coronavirus, limiting the pandemic’s negative effects, and steps that can be taken jointly with other EU nations.
A summit of the 27-member EU is scheduled for Sept. 24-25 in Brussels.
Poland currently holds the rotating presidency of the so-called Visegrad 4.
