Brussels marks five years of the devastating Myanmar military coup

Brussels – Mizzima

The Myanmar Pre-Thingyan series was held on 2 March in Brussels, bringing together EU representatives, academics, artists and members of the Burmese diaspora across Europe for an evening of solidarity, culture and dialogue, five years since the military coup in Myanmar.

Organised as part of the European Union’s Myanmar Pre-Thingyan, Food & Culture Week at the Wolf Sharing Food Market, speakers stressed the importance of remembering the crisis in Myanmar.

Peteris Ustubs, Director for Asia, Central Asia and Pacific at the Directorate General for International Partnerships at the European Commission, said it was a privilege and honour to be at the event.

“And I want to say thank you for being with us and with the Myanmar community here for listening, understanding and sharing what’s going on in the country. Because I think it is a good occasion as an event, and specifically in broader Myanmar, we think the week of activities dedicated to Myanmar, which forms part of public policy, public policy of engaging and talking to each other, as well as bringing Myanmar as a country, as a story, as a situation to attention of policy makers, as well as decision makers, and at the end also by the public.

Mr Ustubs noted the problems concerning the recent Myanmar election.

“The European Union has been clear that conditions were not met for a free, fair and transparent inclusive (election) process to align for international standards for both directions. In the context of our guiding principles, as there remains a constant and European Union support, we must directly benefit from our support to the people of Myanmar. Since 2021, the European Union has stood by Myanmar, and our bilateral development as well as humanitarian assistance jointly accounts for 710 million euros dedicated to the country.

“Together with continued humanitarian support, the European Union is the largest donor in the country. In line with February 2021 Council conclusions, we have adopted our programmes to support the people of Myanmar, and still we continue to build the societal resilience. We work together with civil society organisations, NGOs and international partners, focusing on peace, governance, education and sustainable livelihoods.”