Opinions & Interviews

Belarus’ vice speaker warns against haste in constitutional reform

Valery Mitskevich. An archive photo

MINSK, 9 December (BelTA) – The work on improving the Constitution should be done with great care and completeness and without haste, Deputy Chairman of the House of Representatives of the National Assembly of Belarus Valery Mitskevich told the STV TV channel, BelTA has learned. 

The key objective of the new parliament is legislative improvements that would strengthen the country’s independence. “We might as well have to work on the Constitution. This is the pillar of our independence. We have certain ideas about it. They have to be discussed and debated before they become proposals,” Valery Mitskevich said.

The vice speaker noted that the time needed to do this work depends on the scale of amendments. “Such documents are not drawn overnight. The Constitution is the major law of our state. The work on it should be meticulous, painstaking, long. It should involve all stakeholders and experts. It should take into consideration best practices of other states. The parliament will naturally be directly involved in this work,”  Valery Mitskevich said.

The Constitutional Court has already put forward some proposals. “I am familiar with them. They can be used as a footing for our work,” Valery Mitskevich said.
 
In his words, the new convocation of the House of Representatives is diverse and highly qualified, therefore it will take no time to arrange fruitful and efficient work. Commissions set up at the parliament are just as balanced. “We will encourage MPs to put forward their initiatives. MPs communicate with their voters, company owners and heads of state-run enterprises, and get their feedback. Thus they can learn about existing issues and respond to them. They can sgugest a system of incentives to promote one or another industry. The Hi-Tech Park is a case in point,” Valery Mitskevich said.

According to the vice speaker, the parliament might play a bigger role in the future. Valery Mitskevich is going to focus on legislative process. “My task is to arrange the legislative work, from the moment initiatives are put forward to the moment they translate into effective documents,” he said.

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