Meeting of Presidium of Belarusian People's Congress

Belarusian President, Chairman of the Belarusian People's Congress Aleksandr Lukashenko hosted a meeting of the Presidium of the Belarusian People's Congress on 19 November.

The current session of the Presidium is the first one, the head of state said outlining the key priorities in the work of the Belarusian People's Congress - the highest constitutional representative body of the people's power.

“I have to say what worries me about the Belarusian People's Congress. We are holding today’s meeting of the Presidium, because we need to solve the main issue (this is not so much about the need to address it, as the corresponding decision has been introduced to the Constitution): we should all understand that the Belarusian People’s Congress should not interfere with other government bodies. The Belarusian People’s Congress should not prevail over other government bodies. Otherwise we will create problems for ourselves,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. He added that as long as there is one person in the position of the Chairman of the Belarusian People’s Congress and the President, this will not happen, of course. “In the future, however, we can create big problems for ourselves,” the head of state said.

The President explained that he had decided to bring for today’s discussion all the proposals concerning certain aspects of the activities of the Belarusian People’s Congress (for example, the structure of the Presidium of the Belarusian People’s Congress, the interaction between the Chairman of the Belarusian People’s Congress, the Presidium and delegates) that were submitted for his consideration within the past six months.

“I did not make any decisions without consulting you. I think you will give your opinion. I have already said the main thing. We, I mean the Belarusian People’s Congress and the Presidium, in no way interfere with other government bodies and do not put pressure on them. Everyone is doing their jobs. We all understand it. To think that our supreme representative body, the Belarusian People's Congress is the supreme power and has the right to do anything in the country is an approach that should be ruled out,” the Belarusian leader said.

“I repeat once again: no overlapping of activities, no pressure. The Belarusian People’s Congress should take its place,” the Belarusian leader said.

The head of state noted that the place and role of the Belarusian People’s Congress are spelled out in the Constitution. "But these are general provisions, general requirements, common functional responsibilities of the Belarusian People’s Congress, but in terms of details, specifics, things are often the opposite," the President said. For example, with regard to national security issues... "Since it is determined that the Belarusian People’s Congress makes decisions in terms of national security (war and peace.), this is the authority of solely the Belarusian People’s Congress. The President brings the matter before the Belarusian People’s Congress (God forbid, there is a war or a threat of war). We gather the Congress, consider the matter and put the country on a war footing, if suddenly there is a war tomorrow (I take an extreme example). The Belarusian People's Congress has the authority to do this," Aleksandr Lukashenko said. The same approach, according to him, applies to personnel decisions, which are within the purview of the Belarusian People’s Congress.

The head of state said that extremely important issues should be considered at the level of the Presidium of the Belarusian People’s Congress. "This does not mean that we will hold it like the plenums of the Central Committee four times a year to discuss some issues, pretend that we are very busy and are overly concerned about some issue. The Belarusian People’s Congress should deal exclusively with matters prescribed in the Constitution. This should be the basis for the structure and relations between the Presidium, the Chairman of the Presidium and the delegates of the Belarusian People's Congress," Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

According to him, it is advisable for the Presidium of the Belarusian People’s Congress to meet two or three times a year. “More frequent meetings are unnecessary. We will meet as soon as issues accumulate,” the head of state said.

On the agenda of the current meeting of the Presidium of the Belarusian People’s Congress are the issues of interaction with delegates in the period between the Belarusian People’s Congress meetings, which should be reflected in the permanent regulations of the Belarusian People’s Congress (temporary regulations are currently in place), the need to raise the status of the chairpersons of district executive committees in order to strengthen their role in the development of regions (a draft decree is in the pipeline), and also the issue regarding the number of judges of the Supreme Court.

Regarding the draft decree that is being prepared, the President explained: “I have put the issue forward today, bearing in mind that we are having an session featuring governors and top officials involved in the formation of the levels of power. I made a proposal on the chairpersons of local executive bodies – chairpersons of district executive committees (this is a draft decree) so that you could express your opinion before this decree is signed.”

Aleksandr Lukashenko added one more item to the agenda: “One more issue that I would like to discuss behind closed doors. It should not be a secret, but we will discuss it this way for now. Then we will inform journalists and our society. These are security issues. This is of high importance for the current election period. I will inform you on the matter and make a number of proposals.”